


I Don't Know, Your Majesty. He's a Mess

by androgynousfeline



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, Deaf Clint Barton, Hydra (Marvel), Light Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, Misunderstandings, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes, Swearing, surprise cameos - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousfeline/pseuds/androgynousfeline
Summary: Steve lives a peaceful if boring life in New Asgard until King Thor summons him to help find the wayward Prince Loki. The main suspect? Wizard Barnes who lives in a strange tower that moves across the land. When Steve finds said tower he meets more than he bargained for in a kind but clumsy assistant named Clint and the one who controls the tower, a face called Tony. Will Steve be able to solve the mystery? Why is there a dog and a Hulk? What does Hydra have to do with anything? A Howl's Moving Castle bookAU+movieAU+MCU mashup awaits you!
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 32
Kudos: 45
Collections: Not Another Stucky Big Bang 2020





	1. In Which We Meet the Protagonist, Steve, Naturally

**Author's Note:**

> HUUUUUUGE Thanks to NeutralChaos and Noodle_Soup_Bowl for their amazing art to go along with this little fic of mine. Seriously, they are both amazing and I cry every time I see what they've made for this collab. Also big thanks to my beta, witchwood_hull who worked hard to help mash this into shape!

At some point in the distant past, Odin had thrown his sons out of Asgard intending for them to become bitter and try to battle to become worthy of his throne. Instead they somehow found a way to generally get along and created New Asgard, with Thor as king and Loki as prince. At a point closer to the present a wailing baby with white-blond hair was born a month early to a young widow named Sarah. Amidst the midwife and her assistant bustling around her, she proclaimed him Steven.

Steve was a sickly infant who grew into a sickly toddler and finally, to no one’s surprise, a sickly child. Despite this he was a kind and generous boy, always willing to help any one in need. He was also prone to fighting, as his sense of honor and justice were, quite frankly, too large for his small stature. Still everyone in the village loved him and he was happily greeted by everyone as he followed his mother while she was on duty. Sarah was the herbalist in their village, and quite good at her job, soothing aches and helping to mend bones. It was very rarely that they needed to send word to the closest city, Havenhill, for a doctor. In fact the last time they had to send word was for Steve’s birth, since Sarah couldn’t midwife herself. Generally, if the need was magical in nature, a man called Professor Erskine would come and use his magic. Steve was fascinated by him, as the man always made sure to stop by and say hi, giving Steve something each time. A brightly wrapped sweet, a copper knife, an all-white pebble rubbed smooth by the sea; always something that he had picked up in his travels.

When Steve was 9, and looked about 6, a terrible plague ravaged New Asgard. Living in a village as small as his, his mother had hoped it would pass over them. Unfortunately several became quite ill and despite her best efforts, Steve contracted it. It left him feverish and achy, his voice hoarse and miserable. Sarah tried everything she could, but found her medicines to be quite unable to compete with the devastation the plague was wreaking, and sent out word for Professor Erskine. By the time he arrived, Steve was on death’s door.

“I have something, but I don’t know if it will work. It’s quite experimental and volatile,” he advised her, looking over Steve.

“If it has the chance to save him, then please. I don’t care what sort of sorcery it is,” Sarah begged.

Professor Erskine bent over Steve’s body, pulling a phial from his bag. The liquid in it glowed an eerie blue. He looked down at the boy, pale skinned and lips tinged blue, struggling to breathe. “Here, Steven. I believe that you will bring out its true potential. Good becomes great, bad becomes worse. But your heart is pure and good.” He opened Steve’s mouth and gently poured the phial into it. When the phial was empty, he stepped back and stared at the boy lying there. Sarah came and stood next to him, fearfully looking between the grey-haired doctor and her son.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Both adults were fighting to hide their disappointment when suddenly Steve’s mouth opened in an alarmed cry; his face became flushed and lips red. It seemed as if before their eyes his frail body became hale; he groaned as his limbs stretched. Finally, his body seemed to settle, and he sat up and blinked eyes that looked brighter than usual at the two.

“Mom? Professor Erskine? What are you doing here?” Both stared at him in shock, for he looked to be the peak of health, not just for him, but as much as a boy his age could. Steve looked at them concerned, and then blinked, frowning down at his hands. “Everything looks… different.” He stared at them again, blinking harder. “Oh! I can see new colors!” Sarah let out a soft gasp.

Erskine frowned. “What sort of colors?” He questioned the boy.

“Well, before I thought that the curtains were gray, but now I see they’re actually...green? And my bedspread is purple! Not quite what I imagined, but still very nice.” He glanced around further. “Wow! I can read the names on the spice rack! From my bed! I never could do that before. And I feel...larger?”

Sarah stepped forward and put the back of her hand against his forehead. “Well, you don’t have a fever anymore. How is your throat?”

Steve sucked in a deep breath and his eyes widened. He blew it out in a fast gust. “Feels fine. Look how deep I can breathe!” He inhaled and exhaled again.

“It is as I said, good becomes great. I am glad for this, Steven.” Erskine came forward and rubbed Steve’s hair affectionately. “Now you must promise something, Steven.” He looked at the boy seriously, and Steve looked back earnestly. “Promise me to remain kind, and honorable. Always remember what it was like to be the little guy. Because the strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows... compassion.”

Steve sat up straighter. “I promise.” He said, putting his hand over his heart. “I won’t let you down.” His stern proclamation was met with a smile.

“I know you will, Steven.” He looked to Sarah. “Now if there’s anything else?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid not, unless you have anything else that might help with this plague?”

Erskine sighed. “I am afraid this is quite a naturally versatile disease. I must head to the capitol, and consult with Prince Loki.” He smiled at Sarah. “I leave you both in good health and wish you fortune.”

“Thank you, Professor Erskine.” Sarah said, looking as earnest as her son, who echoed her.

“It was my pleasure.” He smiled and left then, leaving the two to celebrate Steve’s health.

From that day on, Steve was the picture of a healthy boy, growing tall and strong, til he was the strongest in the village by the age of 14. He was still kind and exceedingly helpful, always carrying heavy things for the elders. Sarah was exceptionally proud.

Sadly that year the plague returned, twice as vicious as before. This time Sarah was unable to escape its grasp. Steve, whose health had never flagged since that fateful day with Professor Erskine, wrote to the man pleadingly. He received no reply. As his mother lay on her deathbed, she told her son that it was now his time to go out and make his own fortune. Despite Steve’s protests, she made him promise.

In the aftermath of the plague, after the village had buried their dead, they realized that they were too small in size to keep on living where they were. Everyone agreed to pack up and head to Havenhill. Steve went along with elderly Mrs. Jones, walking ahead of her cart with Cat, her donkey. Everyone in the village agreed that he was now destined to do great things, being that he was an orphan. Steve understood they meant it not in any sort of malicious sense, just a practical sense. That’s just how these sorts of things were.

Mrs. Jones in particular, was convinced that Steve would have a wonderful adventure, and gave him her late husband’s finest suits. “They’re just wasted with me, my boy. I’m an old widow. It’s my duty to give you an important item to start your adventure. And nothing is more important than looking important. You have to catch the eye of the right people, you know.”

Steve thanked her profusely and carefully folded the suits in paper, then packed them in his bag. When they reached the city, everyone broke off into smaller groups, saying tearful goodbyes and wishing everyone luck. Each villager came to Steve and gave him either a coin or something else of small value they owned, both in return for generous services he had rendered them, and because it was quite unlucky to be rude to an orphan. Mrs. Jones asked him to accompany her to a small house on the outskirts, where her niece lived with her husband and two children. She had pressed a kiss to his cheek and wished him to write to her of his adventure. He promised to keep her informed and thanked her for her kindness before heading deeper into Havenhill.

At first, he had trouble, as no family had an open room or space to sleep, or needed to save room for a worker. Eventually Steve found luck: another young man around his age was on his way to the smithy, where he was to begin an apprenticeship. Sam Wilson had introduced himself, and after hearing Steve’s story, felt it was only right that he bring Steve along.

“I will not risk misfortune by leaving you in need. Also, as I hear it, Brunhilde needs strong arms, and man, yours are the strongest I have ever seen,” he added as Steve slung Sam’s bag over his shoulder, adding it to his own.

“Thank you, Sam.” Steve smiled earnestly, meeting Sam’s kind brown eyes “I appreciate it.”

The other man shrugged and affectionately punched Steve’s shoulder. “Yeah, well, just promise me you’ll pass along some of that good fortune you’re meant for.”

“Of course, what else for my best friend?”

And well, what can one really say to that?


	2. Which Contains Discussions of Magic, Wizards, and Inexplicably, the Genealogy of the King’s Favorite Chicken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve endures chickens and is given a mission.

Steve had found his apprenticeship exhausting but fun. He loved his work, but especially finely crafting metalworks; he had even made a pommel for a visiting lord which included a series of ivy vines. It wasn’t that he disliked shoeing horses and the like, but it could get a bit boring. Sam had lasted a few months into their apprenticeship before he had admitted that working with metal was simply not his forte. Brunhilde had agreed, seeing as how Sam had somehow wrecked her anvil for the second time, and sent him off to the falconer, whose apprentice had unfortunately realized he was allergic to bird feathers. 

Now, some 8 years later, Steve was still happily working for Brunhilde and met Sam most days for dinner. His life was fairly ordinary, considering his auspicious circumstances. About 3 years before, he thought his chance had come, when the King and his brother had visited the city. 

The King had been walking down the street, dressed in what Steve assumed must be his travel clothes, though they were finer than any clothes Steve had ever seen: a deep burgundy brocade cloak with gold lightning that seemed to flicker down as it caught the light. His brother wore a similar cloak of deep emerald, silver animals dancing across his back. Both wore fine waistcoats and leather trousers. King Thor walked proudly, his face beaming and kind as he nodded or spoke a few words to each person that lined the lanes to see him. His brother, on the other hand, walked with a swagger that oozed between people swiftly and with a shiver. His aristocratic face curled into what seemed to be a near sneer. 

Steve stood next to a man named Isaac and his family. The local cooper had parked his cart at the mouth of an alley, barrels stacked and the local children sat happily perched, tall enough to see the street. The King happened to be walking by just as one of the children sent a barrel tumbling, and it would have struck Thor had not Steve grabbed it mid bounce, stopping everyone in their tracks. The King had blinked and then bellowed out a loud laugh. Isaac had been terribly mortified, having caught the falling child. Loki had merely stalked past, his sneer more pronounced. 

“Well met, my good man! What a great catch, what is your name?” The King smiled at Steve, who gently placed the barrel on the ground next to the cart. 

“Uh, Steven. Your Majesty. I work at the Valkyrie.” 

“A pleasure to meet you! Is Brunhilde still the smith?”

“Yes, your Majesty. I was her apprentice and now I am in training to take over her shop.”

“Wonderful! Loki, come here and say hi to Steven!” Loki didn’t even deign to turn around, merely waved his hand imperiously and continued to slither down the road. “Ah, my brother. He is mercurial. Hopefully fate will have us meet once again, Steven! Say hello to Hilde for me.” Thor waved merrily and set off again down the road. 

Isaac rushed to Steve and grasped his hand. “Thank you, Steve.”

“It was no problem, Isaac.”

“I meant, thank you for allowing me to help begin your adventure! Make sure the next time you are to see the king, allow me to send along some ale!” Isaac slapped him on the back and turned round to head back to his shop.

Steve had hoped to hear from the king, but alas no word came, and he resolved himself to the life he led. 

...

And then one morning a harried-looking man entered Valkyrie. Steve, who was at the moment organizing the display behind the counter, stopped. “Welcome to Valkyrie, is there something I can help you with?”

“Are you Steven?” The man stared eagerly at Steve. 

“I am…”

“Oh splendid. You must accompany me at once to the capitol, the king requests your presence.”

“My presence?” 

“Yes! He specifically wanted ‘Steven who works at the Valkyrie in Havenhill.”

“Well… that does sound like me. Give me a moment to pack my things.”

When Steve informed Brunhilde that his presence was requested by the king she had merely sighed. 

“I knew this would happen eventually. Put on one of your nice suits and go find out what that idiot wants.”

Steve had learned long ago not to question what she had to say and so he dressed in one of the fine suits that Mrs. Jones had given him, although it had been altered a few years ago to accommodate the changes in his body from working at the smithy. Once he had packed food for his travels, he followed the courier.

As they began down the road, Steve looked to the man beside him. “You truly have no idea why the king has summoned me?”

The man, who had sandy blond hair and a goatee, shook his head. “I am currently not in the king’s great favor as such, which is why I was sent as the messenger. It seemed a task that he felt confident in calling you for, though,” The man gave him a onceover. “I do not think it is cause for much concern.”

“Consider my worries eased.” Steve replied. “May I ask for your name?” 

“Ah, my apologies, I am Fandral.” The man quirked a bow in his direction. “And now we shall-” he stopped for a moment and patted at his trousers. He pulled something from his pocket “be on our way! Here, put this on!” He threw a bundle of cloth at Steve. 

Steve caught the bundle and unfolded it to reveal a cloak, well worn and covered in patches of different colors. It looked far too small to fit him but at Fandral’s nodding he threw it around his shoulders. He could almost feel the coarse fabric stretching until it hung almost to his heels and covered his shoulders and bag entirely. “What...is this?” 

“A cloak of many leagues! Did you think by ‘at once’ the king meant however many days it takes to get from here to the capitol?”

Steve bit back both his first and second thoughts. “It had not occurred to me.”

“That’s why I’m here, now watch carefully and step exactly where I step. Don’t want to accidentally step through a cottage roof or in the middle of the Swannee, am I right?”

For some reason, Steve had the distinct impression these things had certainly occurred and shook his head. 

“Good, now follow me in 1….2...3!” And the other man took a long step, Steve following closely at his heels. Things sped past him in a blur of colors and sounds, although he did have the distinct impression of cracking wood and the bleating of sheep before an arm stopped him forcefully from moving forward. 

“And, we’re here! Not too much trouble, now was that?”

“I think I stepped on a fence.”

Fandral blanched. “No, no I’m quite sure you didn’t.”

“I heard splintering wood.”

“Ah, side effects of fast travel, please be a dear and don’t mention this to his Majesty.” Fandral quickly spun around and pulled the cloak from Steve’s shoulders, the fabric shrinking as he wrapped it into a tight wad and stuck it somewhere on his person. “And now we’re ready! Steven the blacksmith and Fandral here to see the king!” 

The doors opened and a stern faced man with his black hair in a top knot nodded to the both of them. 

“Hogun! So glad to see you back from your trip!” Fandral clapped the stern faced man on the shoulder. 

“Fandral, I see you got demoted...again.” The man’s face twitched before he faced Steve head on. 

“Pleasure to meet you, I am Hogun. The King is currently tending to her Highness, Glenda. I will show you the way.” 

Steve knew of no one in the royal family named Glenda but followed behind the two men as Fandral asked questions that received short replies from Hogun. Eventually they exited through a door and came to what Steve could only call as ostentatious a chicken coop as there ever was. King Thor stood in the middle, surrounded by chickens, a rooster astride his shoulder, throwing feed out merrily. An older man, his blond hair cropped short, stood off to one side, seemingly attempting to avoid the dirt and feathers that were flying. He eyed the three men who entered before smiling broadly. 

“Ah, your Majesty, Fandral has returned.” 

“Grand!” shouted the King as he spun to face them. “I see you had little trouble getting here!”

“Indeed, your Majesty! No mishaps whatsoever!” Fandral’s elbow jabbed Steve’s ribs quickly. “One blacksmith named Steven, as you requested.”

Steve bowed. “I was told your Majesty wanted to see me?” 

“Yes, yes! Just a moment please…” the King reached up and carefully removed the rooster from his shoulder and placed him on the ground. The rooster gave a huff and strutted away indignantly. Thor then dumped the remaining feed on the ground and walked toward them through the flurry of chickens. “I am glad to see you again, Steven! I hope that your absence is not a burden on your employer?”

Steve met the King’s eyes and noted absently that they were two different colors. “Uh, no, no worries, your Majesty. We just finished up a large order and…” he trailed off as a chicken strutted up to him and began pecking at his trousers. He tried to side-step the chicken but it followed. He reached down to shoo it away but this, apparently, had been her plan all along; as soon as his head was bent the chicken flew up and landed on his head. She fluffed herself up and plucked at his hair until she was apparently comfortable. 

“Um…” Steve began, not quite sure how to respond to this. The King guffawed. 

“Ah! See! I told you he was the best choice! Glenda approves!” King Thor turned to the older man in the corner. The man smiled and nodded. 

“I see. Well it appears this search was not in vain then. Now shall we go to the council chamber and discuss further?” The man prodded. 

“Yes, of course!” The King turned again to Steve. “Come, follow me.”

Steve started to step when he remembered the weight on his head. “Oh, um, I should just-” as soon as his hand approached the chicken, Glenda, perched on his head she snapped at his fingers viciously. “Ow!”

Fandral laughed. “I’m afraid her Highness has chosen you, Steven. She will not leave your head until a time that she deems right.” he clapped Steve on the shoulder. “It is an honor!”

“Truly.” Steve lied. 

They proceeded out of the chicken coop and into a room with a circular table surrounded by chairs. The King sat down and the older man sat to his right. Hogun and Fandral seated themselves to the King’s left, leaving the chair closest to the King unoccupied. Steve decided to sit opposite of the older man, whose name he still did not know. 

“Lady Sif is out on a mission and I have told Falstagg to rest after his journey so it will be just us today.” the King addressed everyone before looking at Steve directly. Glenda stood up and paced about Steve’s head for a bit before settling back down. The older man cleared his throat next to King Thor. The King glanced at him and then slapped the man’s back. “I am sorry Alexander, I have forgotten to introduce you! Steven, this is my advisor, Alexander Pierce.” 

Alexander rubbed his shoulder gingerly and nodded at Steve. Steve returned the nod. He hoped that was what he was supposed to do. Glenda pecked him for it. 

“Now, Steven. What I am about to tell you must stay within this room,” The King regarded him seriously. “My brother, Prince Loki, has gone missing.” 

Steve blinked, startled. Hogun and Fandral looked down, while Alexander stared at him. 

“I’m sorry, your Majesty, that is bad news indeed.” 

The King nodded. “I have sent out each of the Warriors Three as well as Lady Sif, but so far no one has been successful in locating him. Not even a trace,” he looked solemnly at Steve now. “I am afraid that he is in true trouble now.”

Steve was confused. “That seems like it could be true. But I don’t know where I figure into this, your Majesty.” 

Alexander leant forward in his seat. “Are you aware of the one called ‘Wizard Barnes’?”

Steven frowned. “I know the name, I have never met the man. But his ugly tower has traveled close to Havenhill several times throughout the years. There are some unsavory rumors about him that I have heard.”

“The rumors are true,” Alexander’s look was filled with gravity. “He is truly a wicked man with many tricks up his sleeve. He has evaded every request his Majesty has made. We believe that he may be involved with the Prince’s disappearance.”

“But surely, he can’t really steal hearts? And to capture the Prince would be difficult, isn’t he a powerful sorcerer?” Steve looked between Alexander and the King. 

“Everywhere he goes, young women disappear. And as for the Prince, he may have underestimated Wizard Barnes. We need someone to go to the tower and see if the Prince is there, or perhaps even evidence of him.” 

Steve nodded along with him and then stopped as the words caught up with him. “Me? You want me to do this?” All four of the men at the table nodded at him. “I’m...I’m just a blacksmith! I have no magic and I haven’t been trained to fight. How can I be the one?”

“Ah, Steven. You give yourself little credit. You are well known in Havenhill as a local hero. Your bravery and ingenuity are equally regarded,” the King smiled at him, “as well as your determination. Thus far no warriors or magical persons have been able to locate my brother or find their way into Barnes’s tower. I believe that the time has come for a different approach and Alexander has agreed with me.” 

“Truly, your majesty, I am nothing special. Why, even when I was young it was thought that I would not live to see 16.”

“You seem of perfect health now. In fact, I dare say you could probably even rival some of my guard.” King Thor replied.

“Well that is due to Professor Erskine…” Steve gasped. “Perhaps he could help you! He is the one who gave me a potion that allowed me to grow up in good health, where before I was sickly.”

Alexander had perked up at this information. “Do you know where the professor is?”

Steve frowned. “I have not heard from him in many years, I assumed we had just lost touch after I moved from my village.”

“Abraham Erskine has been missing for almost 10 years. I had tried to look for him, but have found neither hide nor hair of him.” Alexander replied. 

“That is distressing news. He was my friend.”

The King looked at Steve. “Nonetheless, it is you I have chosen for this task. And your appointment has been approved by on high, for Glenda has deemed you worthy!”

Steve could feel the chicken preen. “Ah...right.”

The King leant forward and smiled at Steve, “Indeed. She is a descendant of the first hen and rooster I brought from Asgard! Actually from the first clutch of eggs that were hatched. We have added more to the flock from here and there, but Glenda, I can trace her line back to Odin and Frigga.” The King smiled wistfully. 

“Pardon me, your Majesty, but I thought those were the names of your parents.” Steve didn’t know much of their kingdom’s history, but he was fairly certain of that. 

Fandral laughed. “Ah! You are correct, Steven. The King named them for his parents!”

Steve decided not to comment on the oddity of naming fowl after one’s royal parents and merely replied, “I see.”

“Therefore, Steven, I, Thor, appoint you the task of finding Wizard Barnes and determining whether or not he is responsible for my brother’s disappearance.” 

Steve stood and bowed. “Your Majesty, you honor me with this task. I will complete it to the best of my abilities.” Glenda flew up as soon as Steve dipped his head and hovered above him angrily. 

“I have the utmost faith in you, Steven.” The King smiled sincerely at him. Steve stood up straight and tried to look confident. He felt liquid hit his head and ooze down his forehead. King Thor guffawed again. “Glenda bestows a blessing! Truly, I know you will accomplish this task for me!”

Steve pulled out a handkerchief and merely inclined his head. Blessed indeed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if I missed any tags! :) I hope everyone is enjoying Steve's journey as much as I am. Many thanks to my amazing beta!


	3. In Which Steve Begins His Journey and Immediately Meets with Misfortune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve begins his journey auspiciously....it doesn't remain that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has more art by NeutralChaos!

Steve set out not soon after, the King making sure he had a full pack for his journey. Fandral was to accompany him to the last known location of the tower. Steve again used the cloak and this time ended his step with his left foot suspiciously wet. They arrived in an empty field, a large body of water was visible to the East and to the South and West were forest. Fandral pointed toward the water. 

"The tower was last seen near Clearwater. It's up to you from here. Happy searching, Steven!" Fandral called over his shoulder as he stepped away, disappearing mid-stride. Steve stowed the cloak in the pack and looked to the East. He could see a slight gleam along the horizon beyond the water's edge and hoped it would be the top of the tower. He began walking in that direction. 

His first day of travel was fairly uneventful. The weather was calm and there was an easy breeze. When the sun began to set, he made camp near a tall tree. As the sky turned dark, Steve admired the vast blanket of stars above him as he ate his meal of bread and jerky. The night was calm and cloudless. Steve allowed himself to enjoy this auspicious start to his adventure before he drifted off to sleep. 

In the morning, the obnoxious tower had apparently appeared north and very close to him. Steve counted himself quite lucky that it looked to be no more than a day and a half's distance away.

"Mayhaps this is truly due to my early misfortune." Steve mused aloud as he packed up and set off towards the tower. His second day passed much as the first and while there was no tree to camp under this night, Steve found a nice flat area and settled in for the night. Steve supposed Glenda's blessing was truly worth it. 

Steve was awoken during the night by a sharp stab in his left arm. He immediately grabbed for his assailant with his right arm but it was restrained. 

“Who-” he bit out before a searing pain overcame him and he fell swiftly unconscious. 

When he next awoke, the sun had risen. He blinked his eyes open and raised a hand to his head. His limbs were achy, and his neck had a definite crick in it. He groaned and shifted, stretching muscles that felt distinctly less...muscly? He looked down as he did another arm stretch and squawked. _His hand was the same size, but his forearm was barely thick as a twig!_ He glanced around and began patting himself down. It appeared that overnight, he had shrunk. Not only that but he could distinctly feel a rising itchiness in his throat. The foliage around him no longer looked distinct, but instead a sort of green muddled mess. He glanced at his hand again and moved it closer, until he could see the callouses that had formed on his hands from work. With a sinking feeling he realized he was almost touching the tip of his nose before the features clarified from an outline-less blob. 

“Who…” he croaked. But around him he could see no one. And with his eyes as good as they were, he realized looking for footprints would be impossible. The body that Professor Erskine had given him was lost. He allowed himself to despair for several minutes. Now what could he do? Head back to the king? But how would he get there, and would his majesty even recognize him? Besides, it was still his duty to locate Wizard Barnes and help find Prince Loki. That at least was the priority. After all, he was near the-

Steve scrambled to his feet and wheezed as he spun in a circle. There, the glinting of the strange metal of the tower! He could still find it, at least. No matter that its shape was vague, it still stood out starkly against the greens and browns of the surrounding area. He sighed. He would need a new plan then. His original one had simply been to wait outside of the tower until Wizard Barnes appeared, then grab him and force Loki’s location out of him. Steve could no longer do that. Still, he knew he would figure out something, and people would at least underestimate him now. 

With renewed vigor he looked down at his clothes and spent time rolling up cuffs, tightening his belt and stuffing his shoes with spare paper from his bag. After a failed attempt at shouldering the pack had left him flat on his back like a turtle, Steve had to empty it and figure out how much he could carry. 

Not much. He could carry very little. The bag itself was somehow incredibly heavy and the space within now extremely valuable. Most of the clothes, any sort of cooking gear, and any books or notebooks were stacked neatly as possible on the ground under a spare cloak. He had to prioritise rations and clothing that he could at least make his own size. He eyeballed the cloak of many leagues and included that in his pack. Wearing it now would be even more disastrous than before, but it was magical and belonged to the king. With his supplies greatly reduced, Steve again set out toward the tower. 

Walking was much more difficult in his smaller form. Not only was his stride shorter, but he became winded very easily and stopped several times to catch his breath. He had forgotten how much more work it took in this form to accomplish things he had considered easy. Still he forged on. 

… 

At this point, Steve had struggled his way for two days towards the large metallic monstrosity; only to have it continue to move away at its stubbornly even pace. He was no closer than when he had started! Steve huffed an indignant ‘Pah!’ and flung himself backward onto the grass of the field he had been forcing his way through. He was even too tired to make a fuss when his shoulder blade connected with what had to be the pointiest rock in all of New Asgard. He just wriggled around until it was no longer underneath him. He allowed himself a moment of self-pity and glared toward the gleam of the tower.

“Stupid big, ugly, monstrosity! Why won’t you stop moving!?” it couldn’t hear him, obviously, but it did boost his spirits. Then a squirrel decided to perch on his nose.

“Excuse me,” he glared cross-eyed at the squirrel, “but my nose is not a perch.” The squirrel disregarded him and walked up his forehead to dig its paws in his hair. “I do not have any nuts or seeds in my hair. Off!” he finished with a sharp command and swatted at the squirrel. It turned around to march down his face, swishing its tail vigorously in Steve’s nose and eyes before hopping off smartly.

“Thank y-ACHOO!” Steve felt an itch in his throat and his eyes became watery. He sneezed violently several more times, sitting up to stop a swell of snot that began to trickle down the back of his throat. He rubbed at his reddening eyes as he sneezed and coughed in turns, ruining his handkerchief in the process. After some time, he had managed to catch his breath and was breathing wheezily and taking light sips from his canteen. He glanced off into the distance and saw that the tower was now much further away. Steve cursed under his breath and believed it could not get any worse. 

As if summoned, clouds blackened the sky and it began to downpour. Steve cursed harder.

… 

It continued on like that for the next two miserable days. Every part of Steve was soaked; he had stopped sneezing, but his coughing had gotten worse; and he had gotten no closer to the tower. He was tired, sore, and extremely irritated.

“You could at least move strangely! You’re a strange tower! Moving in the same direction for so many days is quite dull for a supposed magical tower with a magical wizard!” he shouted as loudly as he could, his body devolving into wracking gasping coughs. This lasted for quite a while. After finally catching his breath, he looked up. To his surprise, the tower seemed closer. Had it actually listened to him? No, it was moving quickly toward him, as if it intended to zoom right past him.

“Oh no you don’t!” He shouted. “You aren’t leaving me behind this time.” He gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet. He shuffled his way into the path of the tower, noting that it was quite too tall to reach with his arms. He looked around and found an old fence post, pulling it loose with effort. He held it up and as the Tower moved closer, he smashed the nearest side with the post. It clanged loudly and vibrated Steve all the way down to his shoes. 

The Tower seemed to pause incredulously. Steve rapped the post against the side of the Tower twice. “Well! Open up!” he hoarsed. The Tower remained paused but there was no door that Steve could see. His arms collapsed in exhaustion and he found himself leaning heavily against the pole, feeling as if there was no air in his lungs. He struggled to breathe and did not notice the Tower floating down slowly, a part of its wall seeming to split down the middle and part.

“What the hell—” a voice seemed to puzzle as Steve’s vision swam with black spots. “Hey, whoa…easy there just let me…” Steve tipped forward as the last of his meager strength gave out, finding himself hitting something solid yet soft. “Shit, Tony—” sounded the same voice as he was carefully lifted, the fence pole dropping from his hands and Steve could only let himself be picked up in gentle arms and let his eyelids fall closed.

He’d made it.


	4. In Which Steve Spends His First Week at the Tower Feverish and Proper Introductions are Had

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve finally meets the illusive Wizard Barnes and his....assistant? And tower?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more lovely art from NeutralChaos!

Steve couldn’t really account for how much time was passing. He knew at some point he had awoken on a bed, larger and softer than any he had ever seen, his head laid out on a soft pillow that he could only imagine must be down. He knew that he was being fed, as he had been woken just enough to feel the hot slide of broth down his throat and a cold, wet cloth pressed to his forehead. He heard snippets of words that rarely made sense.

“Pneumonia, asthma, scoliosis, astigmatism, arrhythmia…Jesus! Barnes, how is this guy alive?”

“So uh…is he gonna die?”

“Not on my watch, Clint.” Hmm, that warm voice again. It was familiar in a way that nettled at the back of Steve’s memory. But he was too tired to care. Unconsciousness swiftly claimed him.

…

“I think his fever’s finally broken,” a hand was on his forehead, gently pressing.

“Finally! Yeesh, that was touch and go for a moment. I thought we might need an Iron Lung.” This voice sounded odd, almost metallic even. Steve was reminded of the twang of different metals when he bent them.

“That was used for tuberculosis, Tony.” that voice again, the familiar one.

“Yeah well… with this guy’s luck…”

“I’m going to go get some matzo ball soup. If he wakes up, make sure he knows he’s a guest.” There was a pause. “And no creepy shit. He’s going to be confused enough as it is, so no Hal impersonations.”

“I am wounded! Hurt! Insulted even! That you would think I would stoop to such a level—”

“Daisy, daisy, give me your answer--do! I’m half crazy over the love of you…oh, did we nix that bit?” This new voice that interrupted the metallic one was the least familiar to Steve, and the song did not help any. Certainly not in the tone it was being mangled in.

“And no ‘Be Our Guest’ either.”

“Aw but Beast, how will Belle know he is free to eat and to go anywhere except the west wing?” The voice that had been singing before now whined.

“You’re really cramping my style, Barnes.” The strange voice.

“Yeah, yeah. No rugelach for you, Clint.” the hand on his forehead moved away and he could feel the weight from the other man’s body lift off the bed.

“Whoa, whoa there, Bucky. Just hang on a sec. You’re really going to deny me Mrs. Gerstein’s rugelach? Can’t we come to some terms here? I swear I won’t even spy on him from the vents…” the voice followed two sets of footsteps out of the room.

Steve allowed himself to relax for a moment, breathing in and finding his throat itchy but nearly as bad as he had assumed, given what he remembered from his childhood.

“So, Sleeping Beauty, what brings you to our castle?” the metallic voice spoke directly above him. Steve’s eyes shot open in surprise and found himself staring at what appeared to be a drawing of a man: his hair, head, and features all outlined in bright blue that coalesced into what seemed to be eyes. Eyes that were staring at him, suspiciously.

“What?” coughed Steve.

“You. What are you doing here? Why did you knock on the door? Why did you knock on the door and then faint like a maiden into Barnes’s arms?”

He spoke so quickly Steve’s muddled brain couldn’t keep up. “What are you?” he asked.

The face sputtered. “EXCUSE me? WHAT am I? Well I’ll have you know I’m Tony Stark. And what are you?”

“Steven, son of Sarah, daughter of Grant, son of Roger, son of—”

“Steven Rogers, got it. So, Steven, why are you here?”

“It’s Steve.” he coughed harder this time and had to sit up, feeling his heart tap against his ribs.

“Yesssss Mrs. Gerstein’s rugelach…oh shit!” suddenly a glass of water with something sticking out of it was handed to him. A…parchment tube? It was being pushed to his lips so he sucked in, cold water filling his mouth. Too much water actually. “Whoa, slow down there buddy, you, my friend, are recovering from pneumonia. We just got all that fluid out of your lungs, don’t put it back in!” Steve sat back and looked into kind blue eyes settled above a nose with some sort of patch on it, and a head of sandy blond hair.

“Hi, I’m Clint.”

“I’m Steve. You’re the one who…spies in the vents?” 

The blond reeled back, holding his hand over his heart dramatically. “I only do that occasionally and I promised Bucky I wouldn’t so, no. No vents.” he winked at Steve and held out the glass again. This time Steve sipped moderately. “And man, am I excited to meet you. First person we’ve ever had try to break in! Which...is kinda surprising really…”

“No, there was that one kid.” Tony replied dryly.

“Oh yeah, Pete? Pierre? Paul?” Clint’s brow furrowed in thought.

“And the Widow…”

“Ok, well, Nat doesn’t count,” Clint dismissed. “So Steve is the first person to break into the tower via the front door then!”

Steve looked between Clint and Tony, whose face was now on the wall opposite of him and no longer on the ceiling. “Wait, are you…do you…work? For Wizard Barnes?”

Tony huffed and Clint guffawed. Steve blinked at them.

“Uh, sorta? We’re sort of a two man—”

“Ehem!”

“Two men and an AI operation.” Clint clarified with specificity to Steve. 

“Excuse me! An AI? What is this, a bad sci-fi movie? This is more Ghost in the Shell, it’s still my mind, Barton!” The glow of the lines creating his face increased in intensity until it began to burn Steve’s eyes. 

“Sorry! Sorry! Turn down the light show!” Clint held out his hands to shield both Steve and his eyes. “I don’t really have a better explanation.” 

Steve peered around Clint’s hand at Tony. “What is an ‘AI’?”

Tony seemed to glare at Clint, as if indicating something. Clint shrugged. “Ok, bad idea. Got it. Tony is the brains of the tower,”

“And this team.”

“And definitely not this team,” Clint cut off the other man. He rubbed the back of his head. “You’re like, the brains of the Tower. The brains of this operation is Barnes.” His nose scrunched as he thought. “Oh, right! These are yours!” He pulled from his pocket a pair of spectacles and handed them to Steve. 

“Mine?” Steve inspected them. 

“Well, yeah.” Tony chimed in. “You’re basically blind. I’m offended that you can’t appreciate the splendor of my tower. Now put them on.” 

Steve raised them to his eyes and glanced through, his eyes widening as everything became more clear and the colors more vibrant. He put them on and glanced around. “It’s like when I was...before,” He stammered over the admission. “I can even still see colors.” He looked in awe at Clint and Tony. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank us, Barnes ordered them as soon as we figured out you couldn’t see well. Made sure they corrected for your color blindness too. Which brings us back around to the business of why you’re here.” Tony pinned him with the intense blue spots of his eyes. 

“For...work!” Steve hoped he sounded more sure than he felt. 

“Work?” Both Clint and Tony stared at him. 

“Well, yes. I thought…” Steve glanced around and noted that despite how tidy the room was, it was still dusty and could use a spruce. “You needed a cleaner.” He received silence from the other men. 

“Well, I can see this room is dusty, and I’m fairly certain all the rest of this place is missing a good deep cleaning. Besides, I can also cook.” 

“I think the bleach would trigger your asthma.” Tony intoned flatly. 

“I don’t know what that is but soap and water generally works just fine.” Steve snarked back. 

“What can you cook?” Clint was looking at him thoughtfully. 

“Loads of things. Chicken, turkey, pheasant, fish, stew…”

“You’re hired!” Clint shouted, pumping his fists in the air. 

“Great.” Steve replied with a smile. 

“Wait, wait, hold on, Barton. You can’t just do that. I can get a maid in here.” Tony sputtered. 

“And have to write up another NDA?” Clint shot back. 

“Ok, well...still. It’s not up to you or me.” Tony humphed. “As much as it pains me to say this, it’s up to Barnes.”

“What’s up to me?” asked the brunet who walked in the room at that exact moment, carrying bags of delicious smelling food. Steve recognized his voice first, remembering the warmth of it. Which was echoed in the kind face of the man standing in front of him, grey blue eyes looked him over under a sweep of hair. He had high cheekbones and a dimpled chin. Steve blinked, realizing he’d tarried too long on the other man’s face. 

“To hire me, as your cleaner.” He held out his hand. “My name is Steve.”

Barnes set down the bags carefully on the table next to the bed and held out his own hand and shook gently but firmly. “Nice to meet you, Steve. I’m Bucky. I can see you’ve already met Clint and Tony. But we don’t need anyone to clean here. Especially since you’re still sick.” 

Steve puffed up at that. “I’m actually feeling much better and you certainly do need a cleaner.” He stood up from the bed and walked over to the bookcase that rested against a wall and ran his finger over the top, then held out his grime covered finger for inspection. “Desperately.” 

Barnes allowed himself to look chagrined. “Ok, well, perhaps. Still, you should allow yourself a few days to recover. At least have some soup?” His voice lilted at the end as he indicated one of the bags. 

“So we have a deal?”

“Sure, Steve. We have a deal.” Barnes patted the bed. “Now sit back down and eat soup.” He picked up a bag and threw it at Clint. “Here’s your rugelach. Now stay out of the vents.” Clint cheered and scuttled out of the room. Barnes then looked at Tony. 

“I may have something, can we go to your lab?”

The blue face nodded and disappeared from the wall. 

“Enjoy your soup, Steve.” Barnes said as he pulled out a container and a spoon, carefully placing a napkin in Steve’s lap. “And try to rest more, ok?” Then he got up and left the room, closing the door behind him. 

Steve stared after him, trying to square the reputation of the wizard, the words from Pierce, and the man who had brought him in and taken care of him while he was sick. He wasn’t sure how they all fit, but eventually he’d find what he was looking for.


	5. In Which Steve Snoops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve learns more about the tower and it's inhabitants. Maybe more than he wants?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another wonderful image, the Tower! Neutral_Chaos1 makes everything look so cute!

After another 2 days, Steve had gone stir crazy and ventured out of the room. The room was the first of 3 that led down a hall to a door in which many linens were stored. At the other end of the hall, it opened into a parlor of sorts. The walls along the right were made of glass and looked out over the landscape. Opposite that was a long wall with several hanging pictures and a large metal door that Steve remembered entering the tower through. A large, flat pane of glass sat above what looked like a fireplace against the wall with the hallway entrance. Clint called it a "teevee" and proclaimed that watching it from the sofa was enjoyable. Across from that was the kitchen. There was a long counter, called an island, that separated the kitchen from the living space. 

The kitchen was confusing. It had things Steve had never heard of, like a "microwave" and a "refrigerator". These had opposite functions, apparently. Although there was a functioning oven and something called a stove, which was like a contained fireplace. So many ways to heat food. And that was nothing compared to the odd contraption called an "espresso machine". All in all Steve knew he would need help getting his bearings before he could fulfill his role as cook. 

In the meantime, he asked Tony for rags, a bucket, and soap. Tony had scoffed at him and disappeared from his sight. Barnes had said he would procure the supplies and tapped at something in his hand. “Oh, as for the cleaning, I'm not sure if Clint would like your assistance but I don't. Please stay out of my room, thank you.” He muttered distractedly while walking quickly toward the metal doors that seemed to be the only entrance or exit to this place. 

With this direction in mind, Steve had decided to tackle the bedroom that had been deemed ‘his’ first. All in all there was not much to search through. Hung in the closet were his cloak, the cloak of many leagues, and a jacket of a strange material that slid through his fingers. It was hooded and he had been told it would keep the rain out better than his cloak did. Also hanging were the shirt he had arrived in, and several undershirts of varying colors with lettering on them. His trousers had been folded into the second drawer of the lower chest of drawers on the wall opposite of the bed. Along with trousers made of a blue material that seemed fairly sturdy and were called ‘jeans’. Undergarments were in the top drawer and were actually quite comfy. The bookcase contained books Steve had never heard of and a collection of color drawings bound together called ‘comics’. He felt for hidden compartments in the dresser and bookshelf and found none. The closet also contained no hidden features. Most surfaces would be easy to dust, he noted absently. 

The bathroom was an entirely new thing to Steve. All shining white floors and a nozzle that sprayed both cold and hot water via a knob on the wall. It was enclosed by clear glass paned walls which sat next to the toilet. This oddity was where Steve relieved himself and after standing, would send the water within the bowl spiraling downward. The noise had caused Steve to scream loudly the first time. There was a mirrored cabinet on the wall which contained all of the treatments for Steve’s ailments and had directions on them for when he was supposed to take them. There was something called an inhaler that he was told to carry in his pockets at all times, after Barnes had demonstrated how to use it. While this room looked to be easily cleaned with soap and water, it also yielded no hidden hearts of maidens or signs of Loki. 

After searching the living space and kitchen, Steve still hadn’t found anything indicating the Prince’s presence. He had found plenty he was suspicious of, but nothing concrete. In order to find something, he knew he would need access to the bedrooms. But first he had to wait until he knew Clint would be out. 

He managed to catch the man stuffing his face with some sort of bread the next day, dressed for travel. “Venturing out?” He asked in what he hoped was an inconspicuous tone. 

Clint looked sheepish. “Mmhm,” he swallowed. “Have some business off in....no-where? Uh, bye Steve!” He waved his hand vaguely and quickly pressed on the wall and exited the metal door. 

Taking this time to listen for anyone else before heading down the hallway. Steve ventured into Clint’s room cautiously. Barnes and Tony had disappeared off to his lab, but Steve still worried about bringing any attention to what he was doing. He had decided on snooping through Clint’s things first, as the man seemed affable and more than likely messy, so he would not even notice if Steve had been in his room. The room was overtaken by a large bed, circular in shape with the covers and pillows strewn all over the surface. The floor was surprisingly easy to navigate, there appeared to be a path of sorts in between long low boxes and small heaps of socks. He walked over to the chest of drawers. 

Steve carefully opened the top drawer, finding it filled with boxes labeled ‘Band-Aid” and rolls of colored paper that were sticky on one side. Offset, tucked into a back corner, was a hard container of some sort that housed the things Steve remembered seeing hanging on Clint’s ears. The drawer below contained a mix of well folded underpants and loose socks, all mismatched. Below that was a drawer simply stuffed to overflowing with undershirts of different colors and designs, some even with words on them. Steve tried to pick through the mess as best he could, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary in this chest of drawers. 

He turned around and noted a few drawers underneath the bed and pulled out these, one at a time. There was another drawer full of ‘Band-Aid’s and a bottle labeled ‘Rubbing Alcohol’, the second drawer seeming to contain only garbage. Reaching for the third drawer, Steve had almost decided to give up, his brow was covered in sweat and he had no idea when Tony would deign to reappear in the common area. Upon opening the last drawer, Steve fell backward in shock and let out a less than dignified squawk. 

Steve’s face flushed red and he could feel the burn up through the tips of his ears. It wasn’t that he hadn’t even seen something like this, he knew what nude women and men looked like, he wasn’t an infant. But these were as if captured directly from life, not painted or drawn, in a glossy finish and in lewd poses. Before he thought about it he had slammed the drawer, stalked out of the room, and ran to splash water on his face from the kitchen sink. Just who exactly were these people?

Steve paused as he felt an awful thought take root. What if those were the souls of the kidnapping victims? Captured like this after their hearts were taken. Steve felt ill. Was this really the sort of people Clint and Barnes were? He knew that was what Alexander had told him but a part of him had hoped it wasn’t true. Yet here was proof of at least something nefarious. At the very least, indecent. 

Steve couldn't re-enter that room and instead began to acquaint himself further with the kitchen. The refrigerator was full of foods Steve had seen and some he had never seen before. The cupboards contained boxes of 'crackers', 'cereal', and 'oreos'. Feeling overwhelmed he picked up a box labeled ‘Rice-a-Roni’ and read the directions on the back, it at least included pictures with the instructions and he soon had it cooking on the stove. He had become well acquainted with the stove one day while Clint had attempted to boil pasta. The knobs, he had discovered, controlled the heat.

“What are you doing?” Tony’s voice jerked Steve out of his thoughts and caused him to fling rice onto the stove. Steve took a moment to gather himself. 

“Well, I am standing at the stove, with food, stirring it as the instructions dictate while it simmers. I would call this cooking.”

Bright outlined eyes narrowed at him. “So you’re actually cooking?”

“Well, that is part of the agreement I made with Barnes.” Steve held Tony’s eyes for as long as he could before blinking. 

“I guess. I just assumed you were here to freeload.”

“To what-” Steve began but at that moment the metal doors opened and Barnes and Clint walked in. 

“Dude, what smells delicious?” Clint lifted his nose to scent the air before walking over to Steve to sniff over his shoulder. 

“Rice-a-Roni, chicken flavored.” 

“It smells great, Steve.” Clint patted him on the shoulder and then vaulted over the island and onto the sofa. “Ugh. After a day like today I am happy for a home cooked meal.” 

“A day like today?” Barnes asked, bemused, as he also came to look over Steve’s shoulder. He gave Steve a pat on the shoulder as well before moving to sit at the island. 

“Yeah, you know! I swear that tomato vendor is holding a grudge.” Clint groaned. 

“Well, you did attempt to juggle twenty tomatoes and managed to hit him in the face with twenty five.” Barnes mused, smiling faintly. 

“I still have no idea how you managed that, Barton.” Tony intoned as he moved to loom over Steve’s head. He looked at the rice Steve had spilled and then at Steve’s face. “You’re cleaning that up, right?”

Steve ignored him and moved the pan over, turning off the burner. “Food’s ready,” he called to the other men and opened up a cabinet to grab a glass for water. As he turned around Clint was apparently demonstrating his juggling to Barnes. Suddenly, Steve remembered what he had found in the blond’s room and could feel his face heating. 

“Whoa, what’s with the red face?” Tony asked, moving to loom over the fireplace in his usual spot. At his words Clint and Barnes stopped and looked at Steve as well. 

Faced with all their eyes Steve couldn’t help but blurt out. “You shouldn’t keep images of nude people in your room!”

Silence met his outburst for a moment and then Barnes was doubling over in laughter and Clint wagged his finger at Steve. “Not cool, dude, ask before you look through the spank bank.”

“What did you just call it?” Tony started, eyes widening but Steve interrupted him. 

“I didn’t want to look through! I don’t want to look through it! You shouldn’t keep things like that!”

“Uh….a guy has needs, Steve.” Clint looked at Steve as if he were a small child. 

“Yeah but us guys here in the twenty-first century usually just keep it digitally,” Tony stated. “Keeps it safe from snoops.” the last word was thrown in Steve’s direction. 

Barnes sobered up, but his eyes still contained mirth as he walked over to Steve. “Clint and Tony are right, Steve. What a man keeps in his bottom drawer is sacred-”

“How’d you know it was the bottom drawer?” Clint pouted. 

“Not the point. The point is...why were you searching Clint’s room?” Barnes met Steve’s eyes evenly. 

Steve felt his pulse quicken. “Seeing what I would have to deal with. That room is a complete mess!”

“Didn’t I tell you to ask permission before going into rooms?” This time Barnes was frowning. 

“It’s fine, he’s right.” Clint shrugged, walking over to Barnes and gently punching the brunet’s shoulder. “But also, bottom drawer is off limits from now on. I have a specific organization style and I don’t want you messing it all up.”

Steve nodded absently, unsure why Clint wasn’t more angry at him. 

“Also, if you think my bedroom is a disaster you should see Bucky’s bathroom!” Clint slipped around the island as he said this, grabbing the pan of cooked rice and sprinting down the hall. “Thanks for the rice!” He shouted before they all heard his door shut firmly. 

“Hey!” Bucky called after him. “That was for sharing, asshole! And my bathroom is fine!”

“No. No it is not,” Tony intoned. “If Snooperella’s going to be going through stuff, might as well let him into all the rooms.”

Steve had a feeling Tony was referring to him. “That’s not my name.”

“Ugh, I’m getting sushi.” Barnes huffed and headed to the metal doors. “We’ll talk about this when I get back.” He pointed at Steve as he entered the metal doors and then disappeared as they slid shut again. 

Steve was still thinking over the fact that he was still himself, and not magicked into a frog or something by Barnes for disobeying. He had to be more careful in the future. 

“You still have to clean that up.” Tony’s voice caused Steve to jump out of his reverie. Steve turned around and now there was a bright red arrow pointing at the rice, now dried and stuck to the stovetop. He sighed and grabbed a rag and water. 

This was truly a strange tower indeed.


	6. In Which There is a Dog and a Hulk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What it says on the tin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Improved with embedded images of NeutralChaos1's art! :D

Barnes returned with food enough for himself and Steve. Clint slunk out of his room eventually and deposited the now empty pan and large wooden spoon Steve had used for stirring into the sink. He sat down on the sofa and asked Tony to play something on the ‘TV’ called The Princess Bride. Barnes joined him on the sofa and Steve walked over to sit in the armchair and observe. Barnes explained that it was called a ‘movie’ which was short for ‘moving picture’ and was essentially a play captured via recording to be watched and enjoyed at any time. It was astounding to Steve, like watching actors through a window, but seemed commonplace to the other occupants of the tower. Both Barnes and Clint would take turns speaking the same lines as the actors on the screen, and it seemed that they had memorized this story in its entirety. Steve enjoyed the tale it told nonetheless. The rodents of unusual size were frightening at first, until Barnes had explained that it was a person in a costume. Once it concluded, Clint and Barnes began arguing over who was more similar to Westley. Tony stated that neither of them were good looking enough and proclaimed himself the winner of that contest. This caused an even larger commotion until all turned to Steve. 

“Ok, Steve. It’s up to you, which one of us is the Westley?” Clint asked while obviously pointing at his own chest. Barnes crossed his arms. Steve glanced amongst the two. 

Don’t forget me!” Tony said as a picture of a shorter brunet, hair and goatee styled in the same way as the outline appeared on the wall. 

“That’s you?” Steve eyed the picture of the man standing in an arrogant pose, a smirk on his face. 

“Yes. Well...was. And will be again.” 

Comparing the three Steve couldn’t help but admit, “Barnes.” 

“Ha! Told you! I didn’t dress as the Dread Pirate Roberts three Halloweens in a row for nothing!”

“Steve, I’m hurt.” Clint pouted. 

“I’m offended.” Tony stated. 

“You’re just jealous.” Barnes retorted and held out his hand, palm facing Steve. “High five, Steve!” Steve stared at him blankly. “Oh, here hold up your hand like mine,” Steve pushed his arm up and out, palm facing Barnes who then smacked their palms together. “That’s a high five.”

Steve looked at his palm. “What does it mean?”

Barnes blinked. “Uh...like…’way to go’? It means a lot of things, but usually it means two people agree.”

“Yeah it’s kinda a catchall, like if I do a cool trick shot, I’ll get high fives or if Bucky gets a really good burn in on Tony, we’ll all high five.”

Steve wasn’t sure what any of those meant but nodded like he did. 

“Well, Steve’s still wrong.” Tony huffed. 

…

The next morning Steve cooked up a large batch of eggs and bacon for everyone and then settled in the living room with a new book called ‘The Lorax’, which Barnes had suggested Steve might enjoy. 

“Guys! I found a dog!” Clint shouted as he entered the living room. Steve looked up from the armchair. Clint was carrying a mostly brown, soggy lump in his arms. Barnes appeared in the hall entrance, sounding as if he had run the entire way. 

“A dog? Where?!” he ran over to Clint and began cooing. 

Tony’s face appeared on the wall. “Clint, why is there a raggedy mutt in my tower?” He demanded causing Barnes to gasp dramatically. 

“That is a good boy and we are going to help him.” Barnes glared at Tony. “Hurry up, we need to wash him first!” 

Steve stood and walked over. “Where do we wash him?”

Barnes and Clint looked at him as if he were a fool. 

“The bathroom,” they intoned as they both moved quickly down the hall. 

“My plumbing was not made to handle dog hair!” Tony called after them. 

“Liar!” Clint cried and as Steve moved down the hallway he heard him mumble a few profanities. 

“I don’t WANT my plumbing to handle dog hair,” Tony amended as he and Steve made their way into the bathroom. Clint was standing in the shower, the spray drenching him and the bundle in his arms. Barnes was at his side, scrubbing at the dog’s fur with his sudsy hands. 

“C’mon boy, let’s see that pretty fur.” Barnes gently lifted the dog’s face and worked his hands over two long flopping ears. 

“Is it a boy? Is it even breathing?” Tony snarked from his place on the opposite wall, watching over them with his eyebrows raising ever higher as more mud splattered everywhere. 

“On 3 we’ll turn him over, ok Clint?” Barnes asked and Clint nodded. “Ok, 1...2...3!” Both men worked together to turn over the creature without having it drop from the blond’s arms. Barnes immediately began scrubbing at the dog’s underside. “Yep, definitely a boy.” he said as more mud washed away to reveal a cream colored coat. 

“Ok, first question answered, the second, more important question is still waiting....”

“Tony, he’s breathing. I wouldn’t have brought a dead good boy into the tower!” Clint barely spared Tony a glance as he worked at a small paw. “He’s got some luck though. I only found him after I tripped and fell in a ditch. Poor guy was barely moving,he was stuck in so much mud.”

Barnes smiled and scratched around the dog’s ears. “Here that? You’re a lucky little fella. I think this requires some shopping. And a vet visit?”

Suddenly, the dog seemed to come awake at that word and wriggled out of Clint’s arms and dashed out of the bathroom. 

“Hey-!”

“Wait-!” 

All of them attempted to catch the dog but it was quick and slippery and left a trail of sudsy water all the way to Clint’s open door and underneath his bed. 

“Aw, Lucky no.” 

…

Lucky refused to come out from under Clint’s bed for three days. Barnes had tried to tempt the dog out with toys and treats made especially for dogs. Clint had simply started leaving whatever food he was eating. He swore that Lucky ate it, although the miasma of clothing surrounding his bed could have also simply absorbed the food. 

Lucky finally came out from Clint’s room one day while Barnes was out and Clint was sprawled on the sofa, his feet up and a slim strange device in his hand that he called a ‘GameBoy’. Tony appeared to be watching what Clint was doing as he made snide remarks every once in a while. 

Steve had settled into the armchair, reading a strange book about a turtle that was in rhyme and included pictures that was apparently by the same author as the other book. He heard a snuffling sound and looked up to meet big brown eyes that seemed decidedly put out. Steve nodded at the creature. “Hello, Lucky.”

“Lucky? Lucky!” Clint hopped out of his seat and scooped up the dog before it could so much as lift a paw. Lucky huffed and squirmed in Clint’s arms as the man babbled at him. “Hey boy! It’s good to finally meet you. We’ve got a whole bunch of stuff out here for you to eat and play with. Bucky’s gonna be so mad he missed this.”

Steve watched Lucky roll his eyes. He hadn’t realized dogs could do that. 

“Ok, great, our resident furball has graced us with his presence. Now we can finally get him checked out for fleas and whatever other diseases he’s probably carrying,” Tony drolly intoned, moving his face from the wall closest to the sofa to the screen above the fireplace. Lucky seemed to growl in response. Tony’s eyebrow raised. “Oh, I’m sorry, Sir Mutt, I just don’t want the residents of my tower to wind up disease-ridden because of you.”

Lucky barked sharply in reply and glared at Tony. Tony looked from the dog’s intense eyes to Clint. “Uh...does he...understand me?” 

Clint shrugged. “Dogs are pretty smart. At the circus we once had a dog that was trained to mix cocktails. Made a mean whiskey sour.”

“There are too many concerns I have with that statement, Barton.”

“Can’t you just do a full body scan anyways? Poor guy is probably just scared, aren’t you Lucky?” The dog in question seemed put out with all the attention until Clint started scratching behind its ear. Suddenly the dog went limp in Clint’s arms. “Ah yeah, found the spot, huh?” The man smiled down at Lucky. 

“I suppose I can. But I want it noted that this is under duress and I still want a vet visit scheduled at some point so we can at least get blood work done.” Tony pouted but a horizontal line of blue light shone out of him and moved up and down over Clint and Lucky. “Well, he seems healthy enough, weight’s in the correct range for his size, no signs of parasites, heart rate’s average.” The blue face eyed Lucky. “Congratulations mutt, you pass. I refuse, however, to let him use newspaper. He has to go outside like the other big dogs.”

“No worries, Tony, I got it.” Clint didn’t even bother looking up, continuing to scratch the dog behind its ear until its body was shaking from how furiously it was wagging its tail. 

Steve walked over and held out his hand to the dog’s nose. Lucky sniffed and blinked one eye open at him before closing his eye again and blissfully enjoying what had now turned into a belly rub. Clint walked back over to the sofa and sat down, allowing Lucky to sprawl on his knees, belly up and paws akimbo. 

“He seems to really like that,” Steve noted. 

“Of course he does! Every good boy loves a belly rub!”

Steve had the distinct impression Clint wasn’t just talking about dogs when suddenly he felt a furious itching in his nose and he sneezed. The sound burst from his nose like an angry, out-of-tune bassoon and he quickly grappled in his pocket for a handkerchief. 

“Looks like we can add dogs to the list of things Steve’s allergic to,” Tony noted dryly. 

Clint looked up at Steve with a dejected face. “Aw, allergies no! Is it bad, Steve?” 

Steve bit back another sneeze and shook his head. “I’bm fine.”

“Time to up your dosage of Allegra then. Ooh and stock up on Benadryl. I’ll add it to the list. Should add...” Tony disappeared mid sentence, obviously having struck upon something. 

“Are you sure you’re ok, Steve?” Clint looked at him solemnly. 

Steve nodded. “It-ACHOO! Is fine,” he blew his nose goosily into his handkerchief. “I fink I’ll make some soup.”

“If you’re sure-” Clint began but Lucky snorted and rolled in his arms, jumping to land on the couch. “Whoa! Careful there, Lucky!” 

Realizing that Clint was now distracted, Steve walked over to the kitchen. After opening several cabinets, he found a pot and set about putting the ingredients together. After his recovery, fresh vegetables had appeared on the counter one day and he had watched as Barnes and Clint argued about storing them. He knew they had mostly been shoved into the refrigerator. 

Chopping vegetables one handed was not easy, but as he needed the handkerchief to stop the overflow of snot exiting his nose, he figured no one would argue against chunks of carrots and potatoes. Pre-made stock was certainly quite convenient and Steve had found pre-cut chicken chunks to add to his creation. He had paused at the overwhelming amount of herbs and spices kept in labeled glass bottles and hoped the random combination he had thrown in would create something tasty. As it boiled, an appealing aroma arose from the pot and he smiled, proud of himself for his creation. 

The hairs on the back of Steve’s neck stood up and he felt himself stop his stirring. He glanced to the left, where Clint was trying to entice Lucky to play with a ball; Tony had returned and resumed his snarking. If it wasn’t them...Steve turned around slowly to face the window. A giant, green face stared back at him, brown eyes the size of his feet staring at him. 

“Uh…” Steve began, attracting the attention of the other occupants in the room.

The face outside seemed to register that it had been noticed. Suddenly an equally large fist banged against the window, shaking the tower. 

“What the…” Tony frowned and began muttering something about ‘security’ and ‘bulletproof glass’ as Clint slowly backed away down the hall. 

The green giant seemed to have discovered he couldn’t break through the window, and indignantly roared “HULK!” This sound also shook the tower and large flecks of spit collected on the pane. 

“Ok, new plan, new plan! Escape the Great Green Giant, here we go!” Tony blurted and suddenly the view outside the window became a smear of color. 

Clint, who had reappeared with a bow and a nocked arrow, glanced at the window. “So uh, what was that?”

Steve, who was perturbed to discover that Clint HAD a weapon, shrugged. “It said...Hulk?”

“HULK!” Came another roar from outside the tower, and suddenly all the occupants were thrown sideways. Steve rolled against the couch as Clint tumbled into a surprisingly spry landing and the dog remained standing, looking at the window fearfully. Lucky seemed larger now, although that was a less pressing concern

“What in--” Clint began before Tony cut him off. 

“If you say ‘tarnation’ I will call you a hillbilly for the rest of your life.”

“--the fuck?”

“Language,” Steve grumbled as he stood up. The large face appeared at the window again, now banging on it more insistently. 

“HULK! HULK!” 

“We have no vacancies in this tower, please inquire elsewhere!” Tony’s voice sounded loud and commanding. It only seemed to anger the Hulk. 

“So what’s the plan?” Clint asked, moving around in the shadows slowly, as if attempting to keep the giant’s attention away from him. 

“I don’t know, I’m not the plan guy. I’m the tower!”

“Ok, well, I don’t think my arrows are going to be much use against this thing, it’s huge.” 

“And fast, and strong. It stopped us at almost full speed!” Tony’s face blazed bright. “Where the hell is Barnes?”

“Chasing down a lead about a redhead in Portstown.” Clint answered absently, watching the green fist slam repeatedly against the window. Portstown? Did that mean they were near there? Steve hadn’t paid attention to the landscape outside the window at all. 

Steve strode to the window and looked outside. “Are we still near Portstown?”

“No, we’re several miles south, now. It chased us good.” Tony signed. 

“Why don’t we go north?” Steve asked. 

“Why would we?” Tony snarled back. 

Steve rolled his eyes. “Because Portstown is surrounded by cliffs. If we can lead the Hulk there, maybe he’ll fall off there and we can escape?”

Tony stared at him and Clint nodded approvingly. “Yes, I like that plan. It’s a good plan. You’re a good plan man, Steve.” The archer looked to Tony. “We can fly a few feet out over the ocean can’t we?”

“Don’t see why we can’t,” Tony replied. “Everyone, buckle up! I’m going to try to shake us free!” Suddenly the entire tower vibrated, Steve found himself uncontrollably being moved until his side hit the island and he braced against it. The Hulk’s face disappeared from the window. “Ok, now time to warp speed!”

The view outside the window became a nonsensical blur of colors and they could hear a distant sound of thunderous foot falls. “Almost there…” Tony muttered. “Aaand...welcome to Trident Bay, everyone!”

Outside, the window only displayed water as far as the eye could see, meeting the horizon deep in the distance. Steve walked closer and marveled at the never-ending span of blue waves. He had never been to the ocean before. 

“HUL-” SPLASH! Suddenly water pounded the window as they all heard the explosion of force that was the Hulk meeting the sea. 

“And time to back it up!” Tony shouted as they moved again, now above a cliff face. Clint and Steve strode to the window and looked down. The Hulk’s head was bobbing even as his limbs thrashed, creating foam around him. 

“Do you think he can swim?” Steve asked, feeling suddenly sorry for the giant. 

“Don’t know, don’t care. Just don’t want him on my tower beating his chest like King Kong,” Tony replied and the view outside again blurred as they moved away. 

Clint relaxed now, and as the tension fled his body Steve could see again the man he had come to know. “Well, that was unusual. We’ll have to tell Bucky. I don’t know if that thing was Hydra or not but that’s the first attack we’ve had directly on the tower.” He shook his arm and his bow seemed to fold in on itself as he went back down the hall to his bedroom. 

Steve watched him and then let his eyes find Lucky. The dog appeared to be his usual self now, and walked with a dignified air to jump on the couch. Steve supposed in the heat of the moment, he might’ve imagined that Lucky had grown and resumed his own seat. 

When Barnes returned later, a frown on his face, the other occupants of the tower were seated around the low table in front of the couch, playing cards in hand. 

“No luck?” Tony asked, his eyes glancing back and forth between Steve and Clint. 

“No, just another dead end. What’s going on here?”

“Well, the tower was attacked by a Hulk earlier but Steve here, is a good plan man and solved our problem. And now he’s kicking my ass at poker.” Clint glared at Steve over his hand of cards and tapped the table, a new card appearing in the middle. 

“Uh...what?” 

Steve glanced up at Barnes’s confused face before looking down at his own cards. “There was a large green...giant? That attempted to attack the tower.” He glanced at the cards on the table and smiled. “Royal flush!”

“Are you serious?!” Clint snapped his hand down. “How, how do you do that? How do you have such a good poker face?”

“You just suck at poker, Barton,” Tony muttered. “Yeah yeah, green giant yelling ‘hulk’ chased us for a bit until we ran it off a cliff near Trident Bay and now we’re all square.” Tony glanced at Clint. “Well, Barton has gotten fleeced about twenty bucks so far but otherwise we’re good.”

“Uh...huh.” Barnes sounded unconvinced until he spotted Lucky curled up on the armchair. “Hey boy! How’s it going, Lucky?” He walked over to the dog and began scratching behind a floppy ear. 

“He’s parasite free as far as my scans can tell. Oh and Steve is allergic to him.” Tony informed him as Clint and Steve put their cards back down into a pile on the table. 

“Oh no! Steve, is it bad?”

Steve shook his head. “No, I’ve taken another pill and it seems to be working. And I should really get to making dinner.” He stood up and walked to the kitchen, gathering ingredients as Clint pulled Barnes into an exaggerated reenactment of their earlier escapade. Steve found himself smiling at the two men, one gesturing wildly and the other happily using both hands to rub Lucky’s belly. They weren’t really so awful.


	7. Which Has the Boring Day to Day Life of Wizard Barnes and the Inhabitants of His Tower, and Lots of Cleaning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve may have gotten himself in over his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to up the rating because I realized I was having them swear a bit much?

Now that Steve had completely recovered and was now a bit used to the tower and the strange people who occupied it, he decided to actually attempt to clean, since that was his stated reason for being there. When he asked Barnes for supplies, the brunet had merely sighed and helped Steve obtain rags, a mop, a broom, a duster, and a bucket of sudsy water. 

“Please….just try to leave things in the exact order you find them in my bathroom ok? I have a routine.” Barnes had said beseechingly before leaving Steve in the hallway. Steve snorted, how much routine can one have in the bathroom?

Barnes’s bathroom was filled with all manner of bottles and containers; they littered almost every surface and their purposes seemed both incredibly specific yet also vague. ‘Smooth and glossy?’ ‘oil-free’? ‘Soft and wavy’? There was a strange, strong scent of vanilla and wood? This place was better stocked than an apothecary! Steve set down his cleaning supplies and began to scrub the sink. He dutifully lifted each item individually, scrubbed underneath, and then replaced it. By the time he had finished the sink and the mirrored cabinet hanging above him, he was sweating and his spectacles kept slipping. He stripped down to his undershirt and got to work on the toilet, which was fairly easy to clean as there was nothing sitting atop the top tank of water. By the time he had reached the shower, he was sweating more and huffing. As he sat down to catch his breath, his spectacles slipped off his face entirely. 

“Oh! Pah then!” Steve exclaimed, feeling around the floor until his fingers met the metal of the frames, which he set atop the sink. He could clean the shower without them. He stepped in and began the same process as he had used on the sink, lifting up a bottle, cleaning beneath it, and then putting it back. This was going along just fine until a particularly unwieldy bottle slipped from his hands, knocking into another bottle as it thundered down to the floor. Instantly, all the other bottles and containers fell from their nooks and crannies until they littered the floor of the shower and the bathroom. 

“Ooooh boy.” Tony’s voice sounded next to his ear and Steve jumped in fright, the rag he was holding flying out to knock over everything lined up so neatly on the sink. “Ooooh dear.”

“What do you want, Tony?” Steve snapped at him, glancing at all the colorful blobs spread before him. 

“Well I WAS going to see if you were alright...but now that I see you are, I’m going to leave and enjoy the fallout later. Have fun!” Tony chirped as his face disappeared from the wall. 

“Ugh.” Steve eyed the jumble of containers. He COULD go get Barnes and have help clearing all this up, but then he probably wouldn’t be allowed to do any more cleaning. Steve bit his lip. Surely most of these were superfluous and rarely used! Steve only used soap! What could one man possibly need all these for? “He’s probably just lying, whoever could tell the difference between any of these?” 

Steve finished wiping down the shower and put the containers back up, not caring for their order. Honestly, if Barnes noticed they were out of order it might force him to re-evaluate WHY he owned more products for his hair and skin than anyone else Steve had ever known. Everyone could use a bit of humbling, even a wizard like Barnes. 

Once he had finished the floor of the bathroom, Steve shut that door and allowed himself to collapse on his back on the bed tucked into the corner. He held his spectacles in his hand and rubbed at them with a clean rag while he slowed his breathing down. When his heart had stopped trying to pound its way out of his chest, he held his spectacles up and checked for smudges. Finding none, he put them on and looked around him. The bed had a navy blue comforter and there was only one pillow, also navy blue. To his left the wall was painted a faint blueish gray and a nightstand stood to the right, several books stacked haphazardly. There was a cord sitting on top of the books that connected to a small flat glossy rectangle. Resolving to search the nightstand more thoroughly after cleaning, Steve glanced up at the ceiling again. Except, now that he could see clearly, it was covered in a mass of spider webbing. 

Steve sat bolt upright, staring in wonder at the incredibly intricate work above him that spoke of either several spiders, or one very determined spider. Either way, he had no idea _why_ Barnes had left it up, except pure laziness. He was going to need something tall to stand on to tackle this mess. Deciding to leave that for later, he cleaned and dusted the other surfaces in the room, the nightstand, bookshelf, desk, and closet revealing nothing that seemed like it belonged to Prince Loki. In fact most of the books seemed to be about ‘space’ and ‘astronauts’ which Steve assumed were words in some other language. There appeared to be no other secret hidey holes either. 

Wherever Prince Loki might be, Steve had found no evidence of him in the tower. Nor, for that matter, had he found any evidence of stolen hearts. Barnes’s room did not contain any images of nude figures; and Steve had even crawled under the bed to look, only finding dust and wiggling back out before sneezing loudly. 

“Hey, Steve! Food time! Bucky got Chinese!” Clint called from somewhere close to the bedroom door. Steve sneezed a few more times into his handkerchief before heading out the door and down the hallway. Clint and Barnes were already seated at the island, a spread of food in front of them, in animated conversation. Steve settled into a stool and reached for a container of white rice and things called ‘wontons’ that he had discovered he liked after eating similar food before. 

“But Bucky, think about it! He’ll be able to do so much more with a tractor than he can with that ox!” Clint waved his hand around, fingers clenched around a pair of wooden sticks that he used to eat instead of utensils or his hands. 

“It’s too much, Clint. We’ve already introduced more than I’m comfortable with. Plus it would involve fueling,” Barnes replied, using his own wooden sticks to grab a shrimp from the container in front of him. 

“I could whip up a solar powered one. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.” Tony spoke from the door of the refrigerator. 

“No!” Barnes pointed the sticks at Tony. “No we have to stop interfering. This is like...A violation of the Prime Directive. We can’t change too much, otherwise who knows what could happen?”

“But it would make Farmer Evans’s life so much more easy!” Clint said. “Isn’t that what we’re trying to do?”

“Ok, glasses and umbrellas are one thing, but machinery? Too much.” Barnes shook his head. “That’s just a bit too far.”

“Spoilsport,” Tony grumbled. 

“We’re visitors! We shouldn’t even be leaving traces behind, let alone involve ourselves as much as we have.” Bucky looked exasperatedly between Tony and Clint. 

“That’s not what you said last week when you gave old Mrs. Boseman a walker.” Clint said pointedly. 

“That’s not a machine!” Barnes dropped his sticks and threw his hands up in the air. 

“Debatable,” Tony replied. 

“Guys, c'mon. We have to keep on mission, ok? No machinery! I mean it!” Barnes pointed and glared at Tony. “None of your inventions either!” 

“Have pity on me, Barnes. Do you know how boring it is being this tower while you all sleep?”

“Work on inventions for back home then! Just stop interfering here.” Barnes sighed as if this was an old argument. 

“So I’m NOT going to waterproof Mrs. Olsen’s roof?” Clint looked at Barnes innocently. 

“Ugh! That’s the last time! I need to go for a walk!” The brunet stalked over to the metal doors, entering and pushing on the wall while glaring at them until the doors closed again. 

“That’s what he said last time.” Clint smirked as he seemed to inhale the other containers on the island. He got up and walked over to the sofa, snatching Lucky who was curled up on the armchair and rubbing hard at his ears. Tony followed and Steve was left to brush the containers into the large garbage bin before stretching. He felt much better now that he had food in his stomach and he went back to work, deciding to clean the other rooms before tackling the spider nest. 

After attempting to clean around Clint’s piles, Steve had to admit he had no idea where the bow or arrows he had seen the man with previously were stored. He had combed every inch of the closet and even shifted the clothes strewn about the floor. Still, this was the least important mystery. Clint’s bathroom was surprisingly orderly and contained barely any containers in the shower, just a bar of soap. 

Steve’s bedroom and the hallway bathroom were tidy and easy to clean, neither containing many personal items. Finally, it was time to return to the toughest job. 

When Steve reentered Barnes’s bedroom his eyes were immediately drawn to the dense cluster over the bed. How did that man sleep with such a thing over his head? Steve took the chair from the desk and climbed up it, holding onto the broom. 

“Time to find a new home, spiders.” He said to the gray mass as he began to jab at it with his broom. He had finally managed to detach most of the left side of the web when something descended directly into his eyesight. Steve yelped and nearly fell off the chair, dropping the broom to catch himself on the back before focusing on what had startled him. 

It was a spider, black and glossy with a bright red pattern of an hourglass on its back. It rotated slowly, back legs clutching at the web it was spinning as it seemed to be staring straight at Steve. Steve gulped, the spider giving off a sense of malice. Suddenly a smaller spider made its way down the same web, stopping above the black spider. This smaller spider had an odd pattern of red and blue decorating its body and bright patches where its eyes rested. It too seemed to be looking at him. 

“Um, I don’t mean to be rude but you really shouldn’t be in here. I’m the new tower cleaner and I’m afraid I have to remove you.” The black spider regarded him, one arm moving to rest just below its head, as if looking him over. It was unnerving. 

Suddenly the door opened and Barnes walked in, hair hanging limply and clothes wet. 

“Steve? Oh shi-” The brunet rushed over and exclaimed in dismay. “Not the web! Shit, sorry Nat, sorry Peter. I forgot to warn Steve!” Barnes came over to lean close to the two spiders. “Please don’t hurt him. I’ll make sure he leaves you alone.”

“Leave them...alone?” Steve looked between Barnes and the spiders. “But...it’s...unclean?”

“It’s fine, Steve. I told them they could put their webs there. Nat doesn’t want anything of Clint’s getting stuck in her webs and Tony whined when she covered up his cameras in the living room.” Barnes glanced from Steve to the black spider still idly spinning. “I’m really sorry Nat, I swear I just forgot. Please don’t leave dead flies on my pillow again.” He looked to the smaller spider. “And sorry for the scare, Peter. This is Steve, he’s from New Asgard and he’s decided he’s our cleaner.”

Barnes looked at him. “Say hi to Peter and Nat, Steve.”

Steve waited to see if the wizard was trying to trick him. But Barnes’s eyes were clear and genuine. Steve glanced back at the spiders “Um, hi Nat and Peter. I’m Steve. Sorry for destroying your home.”

“I think that’s enough cleaning for the day, ok, Steve? I’m going to take a shower, wanna see about dinner?” Barnes patted him on the shoulder and coaxed him down from the chair. 

“Sure.” Steve replied, glancing between Barnes and the spiders one more time before taking the broom and leaving the room. It appeared that Barnes was fond of the spiders. Steve had no idea what to do with that information. He made his way to the kitchen and began to pull ingredients out. 

“Lookin’ a little spooked there, Steve,” Clint said, hand coming down to pat Steve’s shoulder. Steve prided himself on only flinching a little bit. 

“I’ve been introduced to Nat and Peter,” He remarked calmly. As if it were normal to be introduced to spiders. 

“Peter! Shit, I keep forgetting his name.” Clint snapped his fingers and pointed at Tony. 

“Don’t look at me, I remember his name. He’s technically an intern of mine,” Tony responded. 

“Why didn’t you remind me--wait, Steve. Did you try to CLEAN Peter and Nat?” Clint looked horrified as he spoke. 

“I was unaware that I wasn’t supposed to disturb the spider...clump.” 

“Oh shit, I better talk to Nat, make sure she doesn’t web you to your bed while you sleep.” Clint looked at Steve as if this was something that had occurred before. Suddenly a shriek pierced the air and both Clint and Steve jumped. 

“What?” Clint asked. 

Tony seemed to perk up. “Did Barnes go take a shower?”

Steve nodded. 

“Ooh this is so exciting! Barton, get some popcorn.”

“Why-” Clint began before suddenly in the entrance to the hall stood Barnes, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist as he cried out again, rubbing his head vigorously with another towel.

“WHAT THE FUCK, STEVE!?”

“Whoa there, calm down a sec, Bucky,” Clint said evenly, walking toward the other man. Barnes threw the towel off his head and pulled at his hair. His…now streaked with blond hair. 

“Don’t ‘whoa there’ me! He put the bleach in the shampoo spot and by the time I realized what was happening I looked like this!” Barnes glared at Steve beneath his brown and yellow striped hair. 

“Oh my god, you look straight out of the 2000s, Barnes. Chunky highlights! You could be a member of *NSYNC! I know you know the dance moves.” Tony cackled from the wall. 

Clint also began to chuckle as he took a step back. “I hate to admit it, but Tony’s right. You look like a Sun-In ad, brought to life.” 

Barnes glared at them all, furiously. It was tempered by the ridiculous look of his hair, which puffed out to settle just below his chin in scraggly strands. “You! I told you they were in a specific order! Steve!”

Steve bit his lip. Was now the time he would get thrown out of the tower?

“Barnes, stop being a drama queen. You have more hair products than Pepper. Do you realize that? You have more than me! More than anyone else I know. Which, I know a lot of people so you should understand how impressive that is,” Tony trailed off before glancing back. “Besides, don’t you READ things before putting them in your hair?”

“No, because I have them in a specific order and follow a routine! Now what am I supposed to do? I look more ridiculous than the time I had to go undercover with Nat in Sweden!”

Clint shuddered. “You and blond are not a good combination. I guess just dye it back?”

Barnes gave a frustrated groan. “You were supposed to be helpful, Steve. You were supposed to not be a bother. Now I look like I should be in a pair of JNCO jeans AND I know Nat is going to find a mosquito and let it loose in my room.” His eyes were fixed on Steve but the fire in them was draining. “Ugh, I have to go fix this! Steve, no more cleaning my room, ok?” 

Steve nodded. “I won’t.” 

Barnes deflated. “Ok, good. Damnit this is going to take a while. Just leave something left over for me.” He turned and strode back down the hall, muttering. 

“That went better than I could have hoped for,” Tony said gleefully. “Good job, Steve. Snoop and saboteur, all mixed into one little package.”

“I think...I’m offended by that,” Steve answered after a moment.


	8. Which Includes a Visit With Sam, Who has Opinions on Steve’s Transformation and Secret Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has a few interesting conversations.

None of them saw Barnes for the rest of the night, and Steve went to bed quite nervous. But when he woke up there were no spiderwebs that he could see and he walked out to find Clint sitting at the island, throwing bits of bacon down to Lucky who happily chewed. 

“Hey, Steve!” Clint smiled and motioned to the island. “Bucky made breakfast this morning, he had to chase down a lead but he left enough for both of us!”

Steve approached the island carefully and then took his own piece of bacon. It was crispy and greasy. “How uh...how did his hair...”

Clint chuckled. “Well, his hair’s a little darker now but he’s all brunet again. Man, that was hilarious. Fist bump!” He held out his fist and Steve formed his own fist and pushed it against Clint’s knuckles. This move he had seen Barnes and Clint do a few times before, and it was usually in a positive context. Steve assumed this meant he wasn’t kicked out of the tower, then. 

“I’m looking forward to what you’ll do next, Steve. Short out the electricity? Steal all the toilet paper? Ooh short sheet the beds?” Tony was giving him an appraising look. 

“I was hoping to actually go to Havenhill? I have some things I need to purchase.” Steve needed to talk to someone else, someone sane. Before he went insane himself. Or maybe he already was, after all apparently he had the approval of a spider named Nat, judging by the fact that he woke up unencumbered. 

“Oh, how boring,” Tony said with a frown. “Sure sure, we’re nearby anyway. Take the elevator to floor 2.”

“I was actually heading to Havenhill too. Gotta drop something off. Let’s leave together and then meet again at the edge of the town?” Clint asked Steve as he set the rest of the plate of bacon on the floor for Lucky. 

Steve nodded. “I can be ready in a few minutes.”

“Same! Bet I can beat you back to the elevator!” Clint called as he executed a somersault and took off down the hallway. Steve followed at a sedate pace. 

He found the clothes he had been wearing when he arrived hanging in the closet and was surprised to find that they now fit him well; they must have been tailored while he was sick. He also had a new pair of boots in his proper size. He could never call Barnes ungenerous, that was for certain. He made sure to bring a pack so that he could collect some of his personal items from the smith. 

He met Clint in the living room, finding the man to be dressed similarly to Steve, for once. 

Noticing Steve’s glance, Clint winked. “Gotta fit in! Let’s go.” He walked over to the metal doors. Steve followed and noticed for the first time a square on the side of the doors that Clint pressed to make them open. Steve followed Clint inside and noted the interior was metal, same as the doors, with a handrail running waist-height around the three walls of the small room created by the doors. Along the right side of the doors were a series of circles labeled 1 through 50, though only 1, 2, 3, and 4 were lit by a blue outline. Clint pushed the one labeled 2 and it depressed slightly and lit up completely. 

“Floor 2, Havenhill at your service. Be good and don’t break the multiverse, boys.” Tony’s voice spoke as the entire room vibrated for a second before stopping with a ‘ding’ and the doors opened out onto the hill bordering the northern part of Havenhill. 

Steve stepped out and glanced back, now looking at the outside of the tower as the doors slid closed. “So that was...an elevator?”

Clint blinked at him. “Oh, right. Yeah that metal room thing is called an elevator, it moves you between floors of the tower. Just push the button. Meet back here at noon...uh...high sun?” Steve nodded at him and Clint took off, skipping down the hill towards the town. Steve breathed in, grateful for the inhaler tucked into his jacket pocket, and followed. 

By the time he had reached the familiar streets of his town, Clint had disappeared into the throng of people milling about the streets. Steve made his way to the Valkyrie first, slipping in the backdoor and grabbing a few things from his desk. Once they were stowed carefully away, he slipped out; hoping that Brunhilde hadn’t noticed him. Once back on the main street, he made his way to the falconer. 

Entering the storefront, Steve waited patiently in line behind a man who was looking for a particular type of hawk that apparently could only be raised in the north. He listened to Sam bicker with the man until finally, the man was convinced to put in an order and leave. 

As Sam glanced down at him, Steve sucked in a shocked breath. It was so strange, to be looking up at Sam rather than meeting his eye. Steve hadn’t quite realized how much smaller he had become until he was faced with this, a familiar face and sight. 

“Can I help you?” Sam asked, putting on his best smile. 

“I sure hope so, Sam.” Steve’s voice wavered a bit and Sam gaped at him. 

“Steve?”

Steve nodded at his friend and forced a smile on his face. “It’s me, Sam.”

“By the--it really is. What happened? All I know is that you were summoned to the king over a fortnight ago, no one’s heard anything from you since!” He came around the counter and stood, looking Steve over. “And now you’re...smaller?”

“It’s a long story, can we talk?”

Sam nodded and strode to the door, locking it and beckoning Steve through to the back storeroom and out the side door, walking outside down the street to where Sam lived. Once they were inside and seated at Sam’s table, he turned a stern face to Steve. 

“Ok, now talk.” 

Steve smiled, he had missed his friend’s bluntness. “Well, I met with King Thor and…” he began and told Sam the entirety of his ordeal after leaving with Fandral that day. 

“So you’re currently living in Wizard Barnes’s tower, pretending to be his cleaner and cook, while you’re sneaking around trying to find the Prince? Like this?” He gestured to all of Steve. 

“I AM cleaning and cooking. And I haven’t found anything yet, I’m beginning to wonder if there is anything to find. Wizard Barnes is strange, but I haven’t found him to be malicious. Honestly the worst thing I’ve encountered was that Hulk-creature. And probably Tony.” Steve made a face at the thought of the face controlling the tower. 

“Steve, are you sure you’re up for this?” Sam asked, concern clear in his voice. “You now have a much frailer body and you’re trapped in a tower with two men, one of whom is a wizard and the other has a bow and quiver?” 

Steve bristled at that. “Do you think I can’t accomplish this task for the king?”

“Honestly, no.” Seeing Steve’s rising ire, Sam held up his hands. “I don’t think you could have accomplished it looking like you did before, either.”

Steve wilted. 

Sam gazed at him sympathetically. “I mean it, we’re talking about magic and things far above your head and mine.”

“But I’m an orphan. I was meant to have a grand adventure.”

“Man, those are just stories. I’m scared for you, Steve. This is dangerous and I’m assuming you’re not going to move out of that tower,” at Steve’s head shake he continued. “Which means you’re doing this alone and I can’t help you. Unless you can convince them they need a falconer?”

“No, I don’t really think I convinced them they needed a cleaner or cook anyways. I’m more of...a stray that they took in, it seems.” Steve sighed. 

“Well, it’s good that at least they will underestimate you. But you’ve already said, you haven’t found any proof of the prince in the tower, surely you can return to the king with that.” Sam met his eyes imploringly. 

“No! Not yet, there’s still more to look through. There must be.” Steve steeled himself. “I can’t in good conscience return to the king without having explored every option, and I haven’t, not yet.” 

“Will you at least promise me once you’ve explored all you can, you’ll take your leave and return to the king?”

“I…” Steve began but found it hard to finish his thoughts and looked down at his hands, clasped in his lap. “If I find nothing, then I might return as I am, now. How can I resume my work?” 

Sam looked over him again. “As you are now is better than not returning at all,” he said gently. “Steve, I am your friend and I just worry about you. If you return as you were or as you are, it doesn’t matter to me, just that you return.” 

Steve could feel tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. “Thanks, Sam.”

“You also still owe me a night at Riverstone. I haven’t forgotten that debt.” He winked. “But truly, is there nothing I can do to help?”

Steve thought for a moment. “If you hear anything about the prince, go to the king, ok? Keep your eyes and ears open. You know how gossip travels.” 

Sam nodded. “I will. Keep safe Steve. If you need to escape anywhere, please come to me. I’ll feel better once you’re back bothering me everyday.”

“Oh, bothering? I thought I was saving you from conversing with the birds like your old master. Or have you found a way to speak their language?” Steve teased. 

“I’ll have you know I think Redwing is smarter than you. If I could teach him to speak I wouldn’t need you hanging around me.” Sam smirked. 

“Oh, that’s how it is? I’ve been replaced by a bird. Do you sing to it too?”

Sam brought a hand to his chest, affronted. “At least someone appreciates my voice.”

“Sam, I never thought you’d resort to torturing your birds. That’s beyond cruel.” Steve glanced out the window and noted the position of the sun. 

Sam followed his gaze. “You keep telling yourself that. I’ve always said you have a terrible ear for music. Now get out of here and go explore whatever other part of that obnoxious tower and finish this quest.” He stood up. “Now, shoo. Go finish your grand adventure.”

Steve stood up and shouldered his bag. “I will, and I’ll come back with a tale so grand you’ll be jealous it wasn’t you!” Sam pulled him into a tight hug and Steve brought his arms up to return it. “I’ll come back, I promise.”

Sam pulled back. “I’ll hold you to that. Don’t think I won’t.” 

Steve left Sam’s feeling lighter than he had when he arrived. He met easily back up with Clint and they trekked back to the tower. Steve watched as Clint pressed the button for floor 1 this time. 

Steve assembled a quick lunch that he and Clint ate before Clint picked up Lucky and wandered down the hall, calling over his shoulder, “Nap time!” 

Steve dropped his bag in his room, resolving to store it all away later. He pulled a leather bound book and a nub of charcoal out of the pack and brought it with him back to the living room. He spent the next hour sketching the view from the window of the entirety of Havenhill. 

“Wow, that’s really good, Steve.” 

Steve jumped in his seat, dropping his nub of charcoal to the floor. Barnes bent over and quickly grabbed it. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you!” The brunet held out the nub and Steve took it gratefully. Barnes nodded at Steve’s sketch. “It really is great. I didn’t realize you were an artist.”

Steve shrugged. “Where I used to work sometimes it required designing and I was good at sketching them out. I also used to draw for my mother’s herb references. She liked to hand them out to people with instructions.”

“Your mother was an herbalist?” 

Steve nodded. “She could help any ailment. Our village rarely needed to call in a healer, she just had the touch.” He smiled as he remembered his mother. Barnes sat down on the ottoman across from him. 

“My ma was like that. Not with herbs, but she could sew just about anything. Mend a hole and it was like it had never been there. She used to tailor for the entire block.” Barnes smiled gently, light from the window bathing him softly and making him seem suffused with it. His blue grey eyes met Steve’s. “Moms truly are the best, aren’t they?”

Steve nodded and let himself get lost in thought, remembering Sarah with her kind voice and small hands. 

It was a long moment before Barnes cleared his throat. “Ah, didn’t mean to get off track like that. I actually came to tell you I’m sorry.” 

Steve blinked. “For what?”

The other man looked sheepish. “For uh, yelling at you yesterday. I went a little overboard. Becca keeps telling me I need to get my ego in check.” He chuckled. 

“If you’d kept your hair like that, I think you’d probably get knocked down a peg or two.” Steve teased. 

“Hey! It wasn’t awful.” Barnes shot back, still smiling. 

“Well, no. But cow dung isn’t awful either, but no one wants to look at it just the same,” Steve retorted. 

Barnes laughed again. “You’re a bit of a punk, you know that? I come over here to apologize and here you are razzing me.”

“Well some jerk yelled at me yesterday for accidentally mixing up one of his….twenty? Hair products? You know most people use soap.” 

“Steve, only idiots like Clint use soap on their whole body. Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of shampoo.” Barnes reached out and ruffled Steve’s hair, snatching his hand away as Steve swatted at it. “I’m serious! Your hair could be as shiny and soft as mine.”

“Really?” Steve reached out and ran a hand through Barnes’s hair, it was actually quite soft. “Oh, hmm.” He twirled a section through his fingers for a second before remembering himself and yanking his hand back. 

Barnes smirked at him. “Told ya.” He ran a hand through his hair and it settled effortlessly styled around his head. “Best locks in Brooklyn.” 

“Someone said something about an ego?” Steve remarked, settling back in the armchair. 

Barnes laughed again. “Touché!” He glanced down at Steve’s sketch. “Hmm, if you’re an artist, I have a few books you might enjoy. Bought a few from the Met the last time I was there.”

“Do they have to do with ‘space’?” Steve asked, remembering the books on Barnes’s nightstand. 

“No...I can lend you some about space if you want though.”

“What...is it?” 

Barnes reeled back. “What is...space?”

“Yes.”

Barnes blinked, seemingly at a loss for words. He suddenly jumped up. “Hold on, let me--” he disappeared quickly down the hallway and then reappeared just as fast clutching books. “I needed references.” He explained to Steve as he sat down, placing the books between them. “So you see the sky? Well that’s a thing called the atmosphere. It surrounds the world and it’s like a barrier between the air and space…”

Steve listened, enthralled, as Barnes described stars, the moon, the sun, planets. The way he described it was so eager and excited that Steve could feel himself nodding along in awe. When Barnes showed him an image in the book of a man standing on the moon, Steve punched him in the shoulder. 

“Truly?”

“Yeah! First man on the moon, it was such a big accomplishment! ‘One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’!” As he explained further, Steve began to ask questions, wanting to learn more. Barnes answered every question, and when he wasn’t sure he would pull out a book and they would search together for the answer. Soon Barnes and Steve were surrounded by a pile of books, both hunched over a star chart laid out on the ground. 

“Uh oh, Steve activated Bucky’s inner space nerd, Tony.” Clint’s voice sounded from above them, and both glanced up to see him looking mischievous. 

“Oh, I know. I’ve been listening. They didn’t even thank me for turning on the light so they could see.” 

“Oh! I didn’t realize it was getting so late, we should get dinner started.” Barnes said apologetically, gathering his books together and carefully folding his chart. 

Steve stood up. “I’ll do that while you put away your books.”

“Thanks, Steve! Sorry for talking your ear off about this. I didn’t mean to interrupt your sketching.” Barnes balanced his books precariously in his arms and smiled at Steve before carrying them all down the hallway. 

Steve strode to the refrigerator, where he had premade a pie and quickly went about starting the oven. Clint flopped onto the sofa, asking Tony some question that got a long ranting answer. Barnes came over to help Steve grab glasses from the cupboard. 

“Space is really interesting!” Steve said as he began pouring juice into the glasses. “Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me.”

Barnes rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Ah, I probably bored you about some of that stuff. When I was a kid I really wanted to be an astronaut and be the first to explore Mars.”

“Why can’t you?” Steve asked. 

Barnes blinked. “Well, I’m probably too old to try to be an astronaut now. Plus I never went to college. You have to be really smart to be an astronaut.” 

Steve frowned. Barnes had taught him so much in those few hours. “I think you are pretty smart, Barnes.”

The other man smiled brightly at Steve. “Really? You weren’t bored?”

Steve shook his head. “Not at all. I’m sure I asked some really silly questions too. I’m not too smart really.” 

Barnes punched Steve’s shoulder lightly. “I think you’re plenty smart, Steve. And call me Bucky.”

“Ok...Bucky. Can we learn more about space after dinner?” Steve thought for a moment. “Oh! Are there movies about space?” 

Bucky’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Only the best kind of movies!” He glanced to Clint and Tony. “Hey guys! Tonight is space movie night!” Twin groans met his declaration but he winked cheerily at Steve. 

Steve couldn’t help but smile back.


	9. In Which Steve Finds Out What’s on Floor 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve finds himself having a good time with Wizard Barnes

When Steve woke up the next morning he found that he was feeling content. Last night he had watched a man walk on the moon, and then a movie involving lasers and spaceships. It was one of the most enjoyable nights Steve had ever had. 

He dressed and made his way to the kitchen and began making oatmeal. All of the inhabitants soon appeared, Clint smothering his bowl of oatmeal in cinnamon and Bucky throwing a handful of blueberries into his. 

“So what’s on the docket today?” Tony asked as they ate. 

“I have a delivery to make and a lead to track down,” Clint said in between munching. 

“Ah, the exciting life of a SHIELD agent. And you, Barnes?”

Bucky glanced sideways at Steve and quickly finished his bowl. “I’m taking Steve to see the city.”

Steve blinked at him. “The city?”

“New York City, where Tony and I are from. Clint lives there sometimes too.” 

Clint nodded at Bucky’s words. “It’s where this tower actually is.” 

Steve looked between Bucky, Clint, and Tony. “Actually is? Is the tower not here?”

“Ehhh...it’s mostly not here. I don’t understand all the workings.” Clint waved his hand. 

“Is that a good idea, Barnes?” Tony’s voice was sharp.

“What do you mean, Tony?” Bucky asked. 

“I mean, is it a good idea to take someone from here back home?” Tony looked pointedly at Bucky and the two seemed to hold a silent conversation. 

“It’ll be fine, I’m just going to show off Brooklyn. Nothing to do with your tower. I promise.” Bucky said confidently.

“Mm, if you’re sure…”

“I am.” 

“Fine, have a fun day running around the lesser borough,” Tony replied with a huff. 

“Ah, you’re just jealous, you cushy Manhattanite.”

“Jealous of what? The rats?”

Bucky stuck out his tongue at Tony and then turned to Steve. “Do you want to come, Steve? I thought since we’ve seen your world I’d show you a little bit of ours.” 

The request was so genuine that Steve found he had no real reason not to. It was just one day, he could continue his quest tomorrow. “Yes, it sounds like fun.” 

Bucky beamed. “Great! Go change into jeans and meet me back here. Oh and don’t forget your inhaler.”

Steve quirked his eyebrow at Bucky but put his bowl in the sink and went to his room to change. He met Bucky again in the living room, Clint having disappeared in the meantime. 

“Alright, stick close to me, ok, Steve? New York City has a lot more people in it than you’re used to.” 

Steve nodded and followed Bucky into the elevator. The brunet pressed 4 and bounced on his feet as the elevator vibrated and then let out a ‘ding’. The doors opened into a room that was larger than Steve had seen outside of the palace. Tall windows looked out onto a mass of people and strange machines moving to and fro. A woman sat at a desk to the right as Steve and Bucky exited the elevator. She smiled and waved. 

“Hi Bucky!”

Bucky back at her. “Hey Dot, settled in all right?” 

She smiled and nodded. “Yes, thanks! Where are you off to?”

“Home!” Bucky grabbed Steve’s wrist and gave her another wave before pulling Steve toward the doors. They exited and Steve was immediately overwhelmed. 

His nose was assaulted with so many smells he found himself sneezing several times, pulling out his handkerchief and holding it to his nose as he glanced around. Buildings loomed over him, seeming so tall that they stretched to the sky and Steve couldn’t even see the tops. People swarmed around him, moving fast and barely even giving him a passing glance. Everyone wore a variety of clothing items, some that made Steve blush at their seeming indecency. In the middle of the buildings and lanes of people was a black road. Large machines, also filled with people, moved slowly down either side, and smaller yellow ones blared sharp noises as they maneuvered around the larger ones. 

“Whoa, careful where you walk, Steve. C'mon, subway’s this way.” Bucky carefully navigated them through the throngs of people and down a long set of moving stairs. It was so strange to be standing still and yet moving and Steve glanced around, trying to take in everything. Different smells wafted up as they went further down, and loud screeching and violins assaulted his ears. Bucky pulled Steve to quickly step off the moving staircase and then walked over to a strange pronged sideways wheel. Bucky pulled a leather packet from his pocket and motioned for Steve to step up to the prongs. 

“Ok, once I tap my wallet, the gate should move so just push at it until you’re on the other side,” Bucky said, bringing Steve’s hand up to press against the prong sitting slightly above Steve’s waist. “And...go!” He shouted and pushed Steve forward. The prong gave way and Steve found himself propelled to the other side of the gates. Bucky followed quickly after. He grabbed Steve’s wrist once again and pulled him through brick hallways and down stairs, bypassing slower moving people and stalls selling different wares. They made their way to a tunnel with metal tracks in the middle and a man strumming away at an instrument in his lap. 

“Wait here,” Bucky said as he pulled out his wallet and pulled something green from it, dropping it in a leather case in front of the man with the instruments. The man nodded at him and Bucky smiled before returning to Steve’s side. 

“What’re we waiting for?”

“The train.” Bucky smiled and a screeching sound echoed around them as a fast moving metal machine came barreling down the track and came to a stop in front of them. Bucky pulled Steve into the machine through a set of doors and pushed him to sit in a chair that ran along the sides of the train car, sitting down next to him quickly as the seats all filled and more people spilled in, filling up the space all around them.. 

Steve bounced in the seat, excitedly glancing around the train car. It was such a marvel, so full of people. Someone brushed past him and he felt an arm reach around his shoulder, pulling him closer to Bucky. He glanced at the man, who was watching him with a warm gaze. 

He leaned close to Steve. “Be careful, can’t have you getting knocked over.” 

Steve laughed and allowed himself to sink back into Bucky’s warm chest. He watched as the people streamed in, most distracted by small screens in their hands, others with something white stuck in their ears. No one paid them any attention as the doors closed and a tinny voice spoke incomprehensibly overhead. 

Suddenly they were moving, increasing in speed until Steve couldn’t even make out the walls outside of the car. Some people swayed with the motion but most seemed to barely feel it, a few hands stretching out to grasp on the metal poles running along the top of the seats and down every few paces. Steve actually felt himself pushed slightly back further into Bucky’s chest, the other man’s chin bumping the top of Steve’s head. 

“Sorry,” mumbled the voice next to his ear. 

Steve laughed in return. “This is amazing!” He gasped as suddenly they slowed to a stop and another nearly identical station was outside the windows. “How far have we traveled?” 

Bucky glanced up at the map hanging near the ceiling. “Well that was one stop, so a few blocks and we have quite a few to go. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know when we need to get off.” 

Steve gaped. It had taken so little time. “And we can just ride this all the way to the other side of the city?”

“Well we might have to change trains, but yeah.” 

“And all under the ground?”

“Yup.”

Steve enjoyed the rush of the train as it sped up again. Everywhere he looked it seemed as if there was an oddly dressed person, and yet no one said a thing. He even saw a dog sitting quietly at someone’s feet. He glanced up at a map of several sets of colored lines, dots breaking up the lines in several places and sometimes connecting different lines together. Steve eventually realized they were on one of those lines, and that it was a map of where they were going. He bubbled with excitement at figuring this out. 

“Can we ride to the end of the line?” His grin was wide as he turned his head to look at Bucky. 

The brunet’s eyes were filled with such warmth, and something else Steve couldn’t quite place. “Yeah, Steve. You and me ‘til the end of the line.” 

“Promise?”

“Of course.” 

Steve smiled brightly again at Bucky before turning back around and watching the people and the stations go by. 

  
  


They exited the train station and climbed the stairs to street level. Steve was distracted by the fact that the buildings here, though still tall, were not as tall as those near where the tower resided. Moreover, these actually appeared to be made of stone and brick, rather than the shining metal and gleaming glass. It felt more like home to Steve then anywhere he’d seen so far. Bucky was chatting as he walked them along, pointing out a shop to Steve or a certain alleyway, always with an amusing story from his childhood. They continued on down the street, Steve noting that there were balconies at each floor. Some held small gardens or an occasional barking dog. 

They finally stopped in front of a set of stairs looking up at another brickwork building. “Well, here it is.” Bucky said, looking a little sheepish and he gestured to the large black doors. Before Steve could respond, a voice sounded from above their heads. 

“Ah! It is young Barnes! I told you so! Young Barnes, how are you?”

Bucky glanced up and a smile broke across his face. “Professor Wei! Professor Lan! I’m doing well, thanks! How are you? How is Dr. Lan doing?” Steve glanced to where Bucky was looking and noticed a pair of older gentlemen sitting on a balcony. One was leaning forward eagerly, his long gray hair pulled up in a messy ponytail while the other sat back, face unreadable and his hair pulled up into a neat bun. The latter had a dignified bearing though both were still handsome, even in their older age. 

The man who was leaning forward smiled at Bucky’s words and began to answer, hands gesturing wildly. “We are well, we haven’t seen you in a while! Yuan is doing very well! He asked about you the last time he called!” The other man’s face remained impassive as he listened to the conversation. Suddenly the man who was speaking smiled, excited. “Oh! You have a friend! Hello!” He waved at Steve. 

“Oh, sorry! This is Steve. Steve, this is Professor Wei,” Bucky indicated the speaking man, “and Professor Lan.” The blank faced man nodded at Steve. 

“Young Steve! Nice to meet you! Are you hungry? I made some rib soup earlier and it should still be warm! You are too skinny.” At this exchange, Steve thought he saw something flash across Professor Lan’s face and Bucky gave a slight shudder next to him. 

“Ah! Thank you very much for the offer Professor Wei, but Steve is allergic to pork and you know that Becca and I keep kosher, maybe another time?”

“Pah,” Professor Wei waved his hand. “At least let me give you some broth!” Out of the corner of his eye, Steve caught as Professor Lan gave a small, slow shake of his head. 

“Oh, that’s very thoughtful but…” Steve began, feeling caught out. 

“Steve’s highly allergic! It would be too much, thank you though! Next time. We have to get going, Becca is expecting us.” Bucky thrust his arm around Steve’s shoulders and pulled him to the large doors, pulling out a key. 

“Next time, you must tell me next time and I shall make congee!” Professor Lan gave a barely perceptible frown at this proclamation and Bucky twisted the door knob and pushed the door open. 

“Yes, definitely!” the brunet shouted over his shoulder as he pushed Steve into the foyer. “It was great to see you, Professor Wei, Professor Lan, have a good day!” he quickly closed the door and sighed heavily. 

“Sorry. They’re both very nice but Professor Wei’s food is always TOO spicy!” 

Steve blinked at him. 

“They used to babysit Becca and I sometimes while Ma was at work. Their son works at Mount Sinai,” Bucky thought for a second. “That’s a hospital, where doctors treat sick people.” He motioned to the stairs and Steve followed him up to the third floor. 

“A whole building full of healers?”

“Yeah, they get a formal education and are called doctors, but there are also nurses who treat patients and lots of other people who work to keep people alive and well.” Bucky stopped in front of a door and pulled out a small metal key, unlocking the door via the doorknob and pushing inside. “Hey! I have a guest!”

“What the hell, Bucky? A little warning next time!” A female voice shouted and then there was the sound of loud footsteps coming closer. 

“C'mon in, Steve.” Bucky motioned to Steve and moved further into his home. Steve stepped inside, noting that most of the walls were made of wood with one wall with a window being made of brick. The interior was not nearly as large as the space in the tower but it was full of objects. A plush sofa sat in front of a smaller TV, a blanket thrown over the back and several pillows littered the floor around it. The kitchen had a refrigerator and a microwave, the counters light and the cabinets made of a light colored wood. 

“Who’s this?” The same female voice drew Steve’s attention to a young woman, her eyes and hair the same color as Bucky’s, dressed in a purple sweater, her hair pulled up into a ponytail. 

Steve held out his hand. “Steve. Bucky has told me a bit about you, it’s nice to meet you.”

Becca smiled at him and shook his hand. “Oooh a polite friend. I like this one,” she looked at Bucky. “So where the hell did you meet this guy? I thought you were stuck in Stark tower all the time.”

“Uh, Steve works in the tower too. He’s a designer.” Bucky coughed and winked at Steve, keeping out of Becca’s eyeline. 

She looked Steve over again, this time appraisingly. “A designer? Cool. I’m studying biology at NYU.”

“Oh, Steve’s not from around here. He grew up in a pretty small town. That’s why I offered to show him some of the city.” 

“Gotcha. Well Dugan, Morita, and Gabe are in town so you should text them and let them know you’re around. Dugan won’t stop asking about you and I’m ready to block him.” Becca smiled at Steve. “It was nice to meet you! I gotta go, class starts in two hours and I need coffee first.” She grabbed a pack from next to the door and waved at the both of them before exiting. 

Steve watched her leave and then turned to look at Bucky. The other man shrugged and said, “Sorry, she’s kinda like that. I forgot her semester already started. But we should go to the park, lots of good people watching there.” 

“Ok.” Steve replied. He had no idea what a park was but he trusted Bucky wouldn’t take him anywhere terrifying. 

Bucky smiled and pulled out the small metal rectangle Steve had seen before and began tapping at it while he wandered around, picking up the pillows and removing take out cartons from the table and putting it in the trash. He slipped the object back in his pocket and pulled out a bag from the garbage bin. “Ok, let’s go.”

“Why are you carrying that?” Steve asked. 

“Oh, it’s full and she always complains about having to take it down to the dumpster. So she’ll start leaving them around and then she’ll get cockroaches again.” Bucky laughed as he explained, taking them down a different way out of the building to a large metal container tucked in a narrow alley behind the building. Bucky hefted the bag and threw it into the container before wiping his hands on his jeans and nodding toward the alley entrance. 

Steve followed, taking in the sights once more as Bucky led him to a large area of green. There was grass and trees, a fountain and a multitude of people making their way around. 

“This is a park, they have them in cities to let people still get some nature, also keep the air quality better. There are paths all through here.” Bucky explained as he walked them over to a bench settled on the side of the paths. 

“It’s quite nice,” Steve said as he sat and watched as Bucky pulled out his sketchbook and plopped it into Steve’s lap. “Oh, you brought my sketchbook!”

“I thought you might enjoy drawing some of this scenery?” Bucky asked with a shy smile and presented him with a wooden stick, one end pointed and black and the other bright pink. “And this is a pencil, it’s not the same as charcoal but less messy to carry in a bag.” 

Steve examined the pencil as he opened his sketchbook to a blank page and tested it out. He found there were quite a few different ways to make marks depending on how he angled the pencil. “I like it. What does this end do?” He pointed to the pink. 

“It’s called an eraser, it’ll remove what you just wrote.” 

Steve raised his eyebrow in disbelief at Bucky, who laughed in reply. 

“I’m serious, try it. Drag it through one of those lines!”

Steve did and was shocked to watch the pink end leave a white stripe where once had been his pencil mark. Steve began experimenting with the eraser and pencil, soon covering his page in half made shapes and lines. “I like this!” Steve said again, smiling up at Bucky who laughed. 

“Well, good! I’m going to go get us some hotdogs, wait here ok?” He stood up and strode to a vendor with a cart further down the path. Steve watched him speak with the man before returning his attention to the page in front of him. 

He turned it over to allow for a fresh page and began to sketch the view in front of him. It was a fun landscape, green trees and bushes giving way to buildings that just continued on into the horizon. Bucky returned and handed him some sort of tube shaped meat in a bun of sorts, covered in a red substance and a yellow substance in zig zagging lines. 

“This is a hotdog. I can’t have you come to New York without giving you a hotdog. It’s good, I promise.” Bucky smiled and took a bite of his own. 

Steve hesitantly took a bite and was surprised to find he actually enjoyed it. The mixture of flavors and textures were easily consumed. He ate it quickly and nodded. “Mm, quite good.”

“Haha, jeez punk, you just inhaled that! Take your time, there’s no hurry.” Bucky was grinning as he ate at a more sedate pace. 

Steve grinned back. “You’re too slow!” He turned back to his sketchbook and continued working on the skyline. He and Bucky sat like that for some time, Steve drawing and Bucky reading a book he had pulled from his own pack. 

They were interrupted by a shout of “Sarge!” Bucky and Steve both looked up to see a tall man with ginger hair and a ridiculous mustache, a shorter man with close cropped black hair, and a third bald man who was smiling broadly. Bucky stood up, smiling and waved. 

“Hey guys! I can’t believe you still have that caterpillar on your face, Dugan!”

The ginger haired man preened and stroked his mustache. “I have a bet to win and I intend to collect with interest.” He eyed the shorter man with black hair. The shorter man gave him a quick punch to the shoulder before walking up to Bucky. 

“Ugh, he thinks he’s some sort of Lothario, it’s embarrassing. Can’t you make him get rid of it, Sarge?” He pleaded with Bucky. 

Bucky shook his head. “Not my job anymore, Morita. It’s all your fault for making that bet in the first place.” Bucky smiled and pulled the other man into a hug. “What are you doing here, anyways? I thought you moved back to Frisco?” 

“Yeah, I did, and now all my mom talks about is setting me up with nice girls and keeps tricking me into blind dates.” He rolled his eyes. “I had to escape.” 

The last man of the trio walked up to Steve and held out his hand. Steve shook it, noting the broad palm and long fingers. “Hi, I’m Gabe Jones. Friend of Bucky’s from his army days, nice to meet you.”

Steve smiled. “I’m Steve, I work at the tower and met Bucky a few weeks ago. Nice to meet you too.” 

After both Gabe and the ginger haired man, Dugan, gave Bucky hugs and introductions were had, Dugan pulled a disc from his pack and held it up. 

“Frisbee?” 

“Sounds great, stand next to me, Steve. I’ll show you what to do.” Bucky smiled and they walked to a small area of clear grass. 

Frisbee was fun, even if Steve spent most of his time clapping his hands on empty air or diving into the grass. All three of Bucky’s friends were funny and told stories as they threw the disc back and forth. Steve had a lot of fun, learning more about Jones and his job as a professional trumpeter, Morita’s woes of living back at home to help take care of his grandmother and avoiding blind dates, and Dugan’s boasting of working out to become a professional weightlifter. Though Steve didn’t understand most of what they talked about, they were kind and fun and treated Bucky with a mixture of fondness and respect. Steve came to realize that they must have served in the army together and that Bucky had been in charge. It made sense, they all seemed closer to brothers, much like himself and Sam. 

Steve sat out once the game became more competitive and the men seemed to be trying to behead each other. He pulled out his sketchbook and drew them, trying to capture the energy and motion. They all took a break to eat ice cream from another cart. This food was also delicious but left Steve’s face sticky. Jones handed him a wet disposable cloth with a smile. 

“Can I see what you were drawing?” The man asked Steve as he went over to a black garbage bin to dispose of the towel. 

Steve nodded and flipped his pages to show Gabe, who was fascinated and asked Steve several questions. Soon Morita had wandered over and was asking questions as well. It turned into a lively discussion. When Bucky finally announced that he and Steve had to head back, warm goodbyes were exchanged. 

“Hope to see you again, Steve!” Gabe said as he, Morita, and Dugan headed away in the opposite direction, waving the entire time. Steve and Bucky waved back. 

“I hope so too!” Steve shouted. 

“Yeah?” Bucky asked at his side, smiling at him. 

“I would!” Steve said. “This has been a great day! I want to come back more.”

“We can do that.” The brunet mused as he led Steve to another long stairwell leading underground. 

“Promise?” Steve teased as they descended. 

“Promise. I wouldn’t lie to you, Steve.” Bucky’s warm voice was so earnest Steve found that he believed the other man completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise cameo by my new favorite OTP because I couldn't help it!


	10. In Which Steve Snoops Again and Has His Inevitable Irritation Explosion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve explores...and find nothing he likes.

Steve woke up the next morning feeling very conflicted. New York was so fascinating, he thought he could spend years there and never be bored. And spending time with Bucky had been...fun. Truly fun. 

But he hadn’t come to the tower to have fun, he had come because Prince Loki was missing, and because women kept disappearing. Or so he had heard. Was it all just a rumor? Pierce had seemed certain but Steve was not so sure now. While the two men in this tower were certainly dangerous, he had not spied them once doing anything malicious. The worst he had seen them be were petty, vain, and somewhat pompous. But he knew plenty of people like that in Havenhill. And sure, Bucky kept spiders in his bedroom, but Steve had never really seen anyone else’s bedroom besides Sam’s. Perhaps keeping spiders was not odd behavior? No. It was definitely odd behavior, but did it make Bucky bad? Everything he had seen of the man said no, no Bucky wasn’t bad. 

Steve would have to search again. He was going to either find evidence of these bad deeds, or he wasn’t. But the time was now. As he got up and dressed he tried to quell his uneasy stomach. When he reached the living room, Bucky and Clint were dressed in dark clothing and seemed to have packed a bag. Bucky looked up when Steve entered. 

“Hey, Steve. Clint and I have something to take care of, and we’ll need Tony’s attention while we’re out. You’ll pretty much have the place to yourself for most of the day. Tony’ll have some safety measures in place, so if there’s any trouble just call out his name and he’ll focus on the tower for a bit, but otherwise it’ll be you and Lucky.” 

Steve nodded, whatever Bucky and Clint were up to, it looked serious. “Ok. Be careful,” he said, then thought for a moment then added, “Don’t do anything stupid.” 

Bucky walked over and put his hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m leaving all the stupid here with you.” He winked and ruffled Steve hair before shouldering his pack and looking at Clint. “Ready?”

Clint nodded. “Ready.” Both men walked to the elevator and each gave Steve a nod before the doors closed and a distant ‘ding’ sounded. 

Steve wondered if this was some residual amount of good luck gifted from Glenda. He quickly ate breakfast and, after speaking aloud a few things that should have riled Tony up but went unanswered, he finally got down to investigating. 

He scoured every inch of the tower, trying to find any hidden nooks or storage areas he had missed. Lucky followed him around as he dug through Clint’s piles, opened all his drawers over again and spent a long time in the closet, just examining. Nothing. Well, except the guilty feeling growing in his gut. 

He spent even more time picking through Bucky’s room. This time he was watched by not just Lucky, but also Nat and Peter, who descended on strings of web. Nat even dropped down onto his shoulder as he flipped through every book in Bucky’s bookshelf. He found himself trying to explain what he was doing out loud to the 3. 

“I just, I have to be sure that he’s not stealing the hearts of young girls or anything else. I have to.” He pleaded at the black spider on his shoulder. “I don’t, I don’t think he does. I hope he doesn’t, but I have to see for myself. It would be wonderful if you could talk and help me.” Nat tapped a long leg a few times on his neck, which was deeply disconcerting, before dropping down onto Bucky’s desk and scuttled over the top and up the wall. 

He found notes written in the margins of some books, underlined passages that held no meaning to Steve. A few pictures, including one of what was obviously a young Bucky and Becca with their parents and one of several men in mottled sand colored pants and pale green shirts. He recognized Dugan, Morita, and Gabe in these pictures. Nothing in Bucky’s room indicated captured young women or the prince, so he left. 

He sat down on the sofa. He had now searched every part of the tower and there was no evidence to be found. He felt like a failure; the king had given him this important mission, but he was also secretly happy that Bucky and Clint appeared to just be strange, but kind, people. The idea of them fighting with the king or his warriors filled Steve with dread. So he could relax now, and ask to go to the capital when the men came back. 

Except...there was still somewhere Steve hadn’t been. Floor 3. He had been in the elevator now a few times, but that button had remained unpressed. This was the last stone unturned. 

“I’m going to floor 3.” He said aloud, waiting to see if Tony would respond. He must still be occupied because Steve received no response. He stepped into the elevator, Lucky watching him curiously as he pushed the button and the doors closed in front of him. Steve breathed in deeply as he heard the ding and the doors opened into a completely unfamiliar space. 

It was a huge open space, as if the entirety of the tower floor were one room; it was filled with strange machines and what looked like several very colorful suits of armor. There was a table off to one side with lots of paper on it. Steve crept around carefully, looking at the suits of armor and wondering at their construction and the gaudy clash of red and gold that they were painted in. There were a few tall metal cabinets, but the drawers revealed tools of so many kinds that Steve could only guess at their use. 

Suddenly, there was a tap at his shoulder and he jumped as he spun around. His heart thudded so harshly he thought it might burst from his chest as he came face to face with...something. It was a long pole on a set of wheels? It reeled back as he did, seemingly just as frightened. It was...alive?

“Hello?”

It waved at him. So it was alive then. 

“Uh...I’m Steve. Who are you?” It waggled its pole at him again and he realized it had no voice. “Do you...live here?” It moved the pole...apparently its arm, up and down in what Steve assumed was a nod. “Well, I live on the first floor, I’m just coming down here to check on things.” It regarded him with curiosity before moving to the last cabinet Steve had been looking through. It opened the drawer and took out a random tool, holding it out to Steve. “Oh, no, no thank you. I don’t need that.” It quickly replaced the tool and picked up another one to offer to Steve. 

It offered Steve every single tool in the entire cabinet, seemingly dejected each time Steve would say no. Finally, Steve had to stop it before it started on the next cabinet. “No! No thank you! I have to...look at what’s on this table. I appreciate your help but I can do fine on my own!” He nodded at the machine as he walked quickly to the table. 

Spread across the entirety of the table was a detailed map of New Asgard and several colorful pins marking each town and city. Steve peered closer, trying to discern the meaning but could find nothing. He moved a few papers and found an image of a young woman. She was glaring, auburn hair hanging in waves down over her shoulder, her eyes lined in black kohl. Around her neck was a pendant with a large gemstone, a ruby. He looked from her face back over the map, scanning for more information. He now could see how several of the cities matched places that people reported young women going missing. They were all marked black. Steve felt dread curl around his shoulders and settle, pushing his shoulders down with its weight. 

He looked through more papers, which were accounts from people and all in reference to a woman with red hair and a red necklace. It was obvious that they were searching for this woman. 

And they hadn’t found her, had they? But still...women went missing. He felt ill as he dropped the papers and stepped back from the table. He had to...had to what? There was nothing here that had to do with the prince, but there certainly were things here that needed answers. 

Steve needed answers. He needed Bucky to look him in the eye and tell him why this map existed, what happened to the missing girls, who this young woman was. He grabbed her picture and stormed into the elevator, returning to the main tower floor. He would have to wait. 

He had no idea how long he waited, stewing in his own thoughts until his brain felt like over boiled chicken. The elevator made its distinctive ding and the doors opened, Clint speaking and Tony’s face appearing on the TV. 

“How did we miss this?” Tony barked as Clint shrugged off his pack, seemingly just as frustrated. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Clint replied as he filled a glass with water. He turned and noticed Steve. “Oh, hi, Steve.”

Steve glanced between the two. “Where’s Bucky?”

“Following up on a very unfortunate thread,” Tony said, his face frowning. 

“When will he be back?” Steve pushed, needing to see the brunet. 

“We’re not sure. Hopefully soon. He wasn’t going to push very far, just attempting to get a big picture,” Clint answered. “Why, what’s wrong?”

Steve strode to the island and slapped the picture down in front of him. “This. Why are you looking for this girl?” He felt his temper rising and his voice became hard. “Trying to kidnap her? Why have you been going around kidnapping women? What is your purpose in New Asgard!?” He finished with a shout, to the shock of the man and face in front of him.


	11. Which Includes Several Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here's where things start to come to a head

“What the hell are you talking about, Rogers?” Tony’s voice sounded even flatter than usual. 

Steve blinked, taken aback, but his fury held. “Exactly what I said! You’ve been here terrorizing villages and cities, all trying to kidnap a girl? Haven’t you kidnapped enough people?!” He shouted at them. 

Clint stepped backward and blinked, owlishly. “Kidnap? What are you talking about? We haven’t kidnapped anyone! And we’re not trying to kidnap Wanda…”

“We’re catching a thief and getting her to return what she’s stolen!” Tony finished. 

Steve felt himself come up short. A thief? “But Pierce said--” Suddenly a terrible sound came from above the door and a light began flashing. Somehow metal was coming out of the floor and covering up the windows. Steve covered his eyes as he turned away from the light, stopping only when he felt something sharp poke his nose. He opened his eyes to find himself staring at the tip of an arrow, nocked and aimed straight at him by Clint. Tony’s face covered the metal walls and Lucky was huddled under the coffee table. Clint’s mouth was moving, but Steve heard nothing but the din still coming from the windows. He watched the archer turn his head sideways, keeping one eye trained on Steve as he moved one hand in odd motions. The noise was suddenly hushed, although Steve’s ears still roared unpleasantly. “What?” He mumbled as he rubbed at his ears. 

“You’re working for Pierce?” Clint asked, voice sharp as a knife. 

Tony’s face glared at Steve from all directions. “You’re Hydra?” The disbelief and betrayal in Tony’s voice rendered the blond speechless for a moment. 

“WHAT? No I’m not Hydra! I was sent by the king!” Steve indignantly sputtered. 

“Why did you say Pierce then?” Tony asked, looking unbearably severe. 

“He’s the king’s advisor. He said…” Steve blinked for a moment as the implication of what they said truly struck his brain. “What does Pierce have to do with Hydra?”

He was faced with two very unimpressed glares. He glared back. Clint broke first. 

“Damn, I hate your earnest indignation,” muttered Clint before he lowered his bow, letting loose the tension on the arrow, but still keeping it nocked. 

“Pierce IS Hydra. He’s the leader. Or well, the current one.” Tony frowned as Clint muttered “cut off one head two more will take its place.”

“That’s not possible!” Steve said, doubting his own words. “Hydra was defeated years ago, before I was born.” 

Tony sighed heavily. “Nah kid, they weren’t. They just retreated back to our world.” 

Steve blinked at him. “New York?” 

“Not New York, specifically. But yes. They were part of a war in our world about, well, 50 years ago? My dad was an inventor, worked with this scientist who defected, a young German guy. Made a super secret squad to take them out, since they were working with something more than just your average Nazi stuff.” Clint stuck out his tongue at the word, as if it somehow was an insult. “Anyway,they were defeated, or so we thought. Turns out we only killed their first leader, crazy guy named Johann Schmidt. But Hydra stayed and became a secret, working to mould our world into their perfect vision.” Tony frowned and Clint lowered his bow completely. Clint motioned to the couch and Steve sat heavily, watching the archer put down his weapon. Clint walked into the kitchen and put a kettle on the stove. After he had turned on the burner he motioned for Tony to continue. 

“So anyway, Hydra tried to take me out about… 5 years ago? I went to a weapons expo, I was the top weapons manufacturer, caused a lot of destruction around the globe. But I got captured by what we thought was just a terrorist organization. Turned out to be orchestrated by Hydra to get their little mole in charge of my company. They had this girl there, Wanda. She was young and Sokovian. She had these powers, could get inside your mind, manipulate things at will. She got them because she volunteered as an experiment for Hydra after a bomb I made killed her whole family.” Tony looked as contrite as it was possible for his face to be, flat as it was. “They were torturing me, making it look like a ransom demand before they did me in. Except I got rescued.” 

A mug of tea appeared in front of Steve’s face. It shook up and down as Clint forced it closer to Steve’s hands, a mug of something else in his own hand. Steve took it and felt warmth seeping into his fingers. 

“Some elite group of special agents, including this one over here,” Tony glanced in Clint’s direction and Clint gave Steve a sly salute. “And Barnes. They broke in and were tearing the place apart, I got left behind with Wanda while everyone went to see the commotion. She looked me in the eye and said ‘Tony Stark, you ruined my life and then I foolishly gave my freedom to Hydra. I have nothing left, so I will take something from you that you will not even miss.’ She shoved her hand into my chest and pulled out my heart. All Kali-mah style. Except as she held it, it changed into this big ruby pendant. She hung it around her neck and left. Barnes burst into the room just as she disappeared. I didn’t feel any different, at first, so I thought it was just some sort of -- mind trick? But when I got back I shut down weapons production immediately, I had to get out of that business. I never stopped to think about what my weapons actually did. And I’d been messing around with--eh that’s complicated. Let’s just say I got my priorities straight when I got back. Took charge of my company and changed it from top to bottom. Barnes, Barton, and the rest of their crew helped me smoke out the Hydra rats. And then we kept going, smoking out the rats in the government, FBI, CIA, military. It was a goddamn infestation!” Tony huffed. “And I fell in love. Or, realized I was in love, I guess. Before my capture I just sorta... walked my way through bedrooms but after, after I saw what it meant to have someone who cared and who would stay by you. And then the whole ‘not having a heart’ started catching up with me.”

Steve stared at the face on the wall in front of him, not even paying attention to Lucky, who had crawled out from under the table and was staring at Tony also. 

“It started about 3 years in, I suddenly started feeling cold a lot. And I got…”

“Ruder? More sarcastic? Cruel? Heart- _less_?” Clint threw out. 

“Yeah, well, it kinda meant Pepper was the only one who could even get me to smile, and that got difficult too. Eventually these guys staged an intervention. Barnes remembered seeing Wanda leaving, and asked me what she’d done. We’d pretty much driven Hydra out by that time, and we had seen the experiments done on her. When I said what had happened everyone seemed a bit perplexed.” Tony raised an eyebrow at Steve. “We don’t really have magic in our world, if you remember.” 

“Uh…” Clint started.

“Shut up, Barton. He’s not a real wizard.”

“No, pretty sure he’s a sorcerer.” 

“Semantics was not my point-”

“Just saying-”

“What happened next?” Steve interrupted, hoping to nip this snarking in the bud. 

“We tracked down Loki,” Clint said firmly. His tone indicated it was not a friendly encounter. Steve wasn’t surprised, he knew the prince had mercurial moods and a mischievous nature. “And once we actually pinned down the son of a--”

“Language!” Tony interrupted. “Keep present company in mind!”

Clint feigned contrition. Not even Lucky believed him. “So once we got him to talk to us, he said that what Wanda had done would kill Tony if he didn’t get his heart back. So we asked him if he could find Wanda. He tracked her around the world but it seems like at some point, she’d made her way over here. He stopped by to tell us he was going to find her and come back before Tony croaked. Said it would only take a few months.”

“So after 7 months, we figured he wasn’t coming back. By then I was hardly a person….or well...not in the same way I am now. We got a lead on a guy in our world called Dr. Strange.”

Steve blinked disbelievingly. 

“Yeah, no, his name is actually Stephen Strange and he is a doctor. Or was, got in an accident and turned to magic or whatnot. Anyway he comes in with his flying cloak and says he’s too busy to fix me, exactly, but he’d help. So he made my consciousness an AI and installed me in my own building, without even asking, I would like to add--”

“Tony--” Clint began.

“A warning! Something! One minute I have hands and legs and the next I’m walls and I can tell there are mice in my garage! MY GARAGE.”

Steve and Clint leveled him with impatient stares. 

“So anyway, moved my brain and said we’d have to keep my body in stasis, only a body without a heart or mind wouldn’t last long even if we froze it…”

“So Bucky, being Bucky, asked if he could lend his heart.” Clint adds, exasperated and fond at the same time. 

“We don’t deserve him, yes.” Clint huffed softly but Tony just continued. “So Strange says, ‘yes but it’ll hurt you too’ and before I could yell at Barnes he’d already agreed and Strange was pulling this...benitoite out of Barnes’ chest. A benitoite. Expensive jerk. And hangs the thing around my neck--my body’s neck. Then he says he’ll make it so we can travel back and forth, wishes us luck, does something with the elevator and suddenly...this.” Tony finishes and Clint motions around the room. 

“This floor being the main apartment, and there being 3 floors below us, leading out into your world. Bucky and I went out and started trying to find Loki, had no idea the guy was a prince but then he went missing too. So then we just tried hunting down Wanda.” At Steve’s alarmed look Clint backtracked. “To find her and show her that Tony had changed, so she’d give back his heart. But in the meantime we had to have some sort of story so after Bucky did something, everyone just sorta started calling him a wizard and we went along with it…”

“So you’re only here looking for a girl who stole your heart?” Steve asked. 

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Tony sighed.

“Literally but not metaphorically.” Clint added. 

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Legolas.” 

“I’m just saying she literally did steal your heart!”

“But, then why would Pierce say Bucky was the reason for Loki’s disappearance?” Steve interrupted their bickering once again. 

“Probably just as a way to get rid of us, since we know what he really is. He’s already infiltrated the court, apparently. Although, you don’t strike me as a typical assassin.” Tony eyed Steve as he spoke.

Steve sputtered. “I’m not an assassin!” They both nodded at him and he felt his cheeks redden. “I could be!” Even Lucky snorted at his proclamation. “Ok, so I’m not. But you really don’t have anything to do with the Prince’s disappearance?” He finished, looking at them both. Clint shook his head. 

Tony snarled. “We need him just as much! Why would we do anything to make the most powerful magic user in your world disappear? Huh? No it’s Hydra, probably got rid of him because he ferreted out all their secrets.”

Lucky barked loudly at that moment, startling all of them and causing Steve to drop his now cold mug of tea. It splashed all on his trousers and the cushions. 

“Whoa there bud, do you have to go out?” Clint asked the dog, blinking surprisedly. Lucky snorted in reply. 

“--As I was saying it’s probably Hydra that got rid of him. Now I just want to know why they sent YOU of all people.” Tony’s lip curled as he spoke. 

Steve felt himself puff up like a cat. “Me ‘of all people’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“First of all, you’re a terrible liar and awful at sneaking.”

“I can sneak just fine when I want to!”

“Yeah, but every time you snoop you come yelling at one of us, so you’re bad at it.”

“It’s inappropriate to keep--”

“BARK!”

“It’s none of your business, nosy!”

“What about my nose?!”

“It’s just an expression, blondie, no need to get so offended--”

“BARK! BARK!”

“Well you’ve an oversized ego!”

“Lucky? Guys?” Clint’s voice was meek as it tried to interject between Steve and Tony. 

“Oooh burn! C’mon tough guy, hit me with another one.”

“If I could punch you, I would!”

“BARK BARK BARK!”

Clint spoke again, “Guys?”

“And I’d brush it off like the butterfly kiss it would be! What kind of a spy shows up and gets sick for the first week? You were delirious! If Barnes hadn’t taken care of you--”

“BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!”

“If Bucky hadn’t taken care of me?”

“GUYS!” Both Steve and Tony stopped their argument to look at Clint, who was pointing at Lucky. The dog stood on its hind legs, one paw jabbing at the button for the elevator. 

“When did you teach him tricks?” Tony asked Clint. “And when did he get bigger?”

“I didn’t teach him anything!” Clint held out both hands. 

“Lucky, what are you doing?” Steve asked, walking closer to the animal, whose tail swept back and forth imperiously. He continued to paw at the button. 

“I think he wants to go somewhere?” Clint asked, walking over to the front of the elevator. 

“Oh, great. What is it, boy? Is Loki trapped down a well?” Tony quipped. 

Lucky turned and sharply barked at Tony. 

“Uh, was that a yes?” Tony asked Clint. 

The elevator arrived just then, doors opening, and Lucky marched in. Steve and Clint followed dubiously. Once the doors shut, Tony’s face appeared on the small screen above the numbers. Lucky jabbed at it. 

“Whoa, geez! Easy with the paws there. Where do you want to go, oh fluffy one?”

Steve hadn’t thought it possible for a dog to roll its eyes, but then again a lot of what he thought was turning out to be wrong anyways. 

Lucky impatiently tapped his paw to Tony’s face 4 times. 

“Uh, fourth floor? Why there? Wait, how do you even know what that is? Clint, have you been taking him places?”

Clint shrugged. “Uh...no?”

Lucky tapped a harder 4 times on Tony’s face. 

“Ugh, gross. Dog limbs. Alright fine, you demanding animal.” The number above the door changed to indicate travel to floor 4. 

“Wait, what about Bucky?!” Steve cried out, remembering that the brunet had said he’d be back shortly.

“What about him, Twiggy?” Tony snapped back. 

“I’m not made of trees! And what if he shows up and we’re not there?”

“It was a reference to a skinny model from the--nevermind. I left him a note.”

Clint blinked. “You left him a note? Telling him all this?”

Tony scoffed. “Of course not! I can’t exactly say ‘hey Buckaroo, had to travel because the dog said so, oh by the way your boytoy is a Hydra spy. Cheerio!’ I just said we went to New York.”

“Boytoy?” Steve asked. 

“Oh good. That makes a lot more sense than what I’dve written.” Clint nodded as if he didn’t even hear Steve. 

“Not that I understand WHY our dog decided to be so demanding in the middle of us talking about Loki--” Tony began before being interrupted by another sharp, “BARK!”

The two humans and one not quite human blinked in unison. 

“Loki?” Steve asked nervously. 

“BARK!” 

“Uh...Lucky? Are you telling us you’re actually Loki?” Clint asked faintly. 

“BARK!”

Tony sputtered, “You’ve been here this whole time?! Why not just change back! Is this another stupid prank?”

“Bark.” The elevator dinged and the trio stepped out, back into the apartment which now displayed the New York City skyline. 

Tony had moved to the screen on the wall and was looking down furiously at Lucky. “Well, which one is it?”

Lucky regarded Tony as one might an infant babbling and huffed. 

“Oh no! You don’t get to be huffy with me! We’ve been searching for you for two years! We thought you got captured or ran away or something! But noooooo, you’ve been here the whole time acting like a pet!”

Lucky snapped. Clint sat down on the floor, looking around wearily. 

“Not to mention that there’s this whole Hydra thing happening. You knew, didn’t you? You had to! You know who Pierce is!” Tony continued and Lucky growled angrily. 

“I don’t think he did this,” Steve said, looking between the dog and Tony. Lucky breathed out a slow sigh and nodded. “Someone did this to you?” He nodded again. 

“You’re the most powerful magical person, how can someone have trapped you in a dog?” Tony asked in disbelief. 

Lucky looked abashed and lay down, resting his snout on his paws. 

“Hydra?” Steve asked gently. Lucky huffed in reply. 

“Shit.” Clint muttered.

“Language!” Steve and Tony shouted together.

“So why bring us here?” Steve asked Loki. He supposed the dog was the prince; he could see it in the way the dog acted, now. Right now the dog was looking at Steve as if he were an idiot. “Well you don’t have to give me that look. If you want help you’ll have to work with us.” 

Loki sighed, put upon. 

“Was it something we talked about?” Asked Clint from his position, legs akimbo and picking at a loose thread at his right knee.

“Bark.”

“Ok, well you’re here,” Tony glared at Loki. “ Barnes is somewhere off near Tattingsly, Clint’s here, Harriet the Spy is here--”

“I don’t know what that is,” Steve replied. 

“But we were already here. And Hydra’s back in New Asgard. As is Wanda. You remember? The one we’re looking for?” Tony pressed. 

Loki rolled his eyes again. 

“What about Dr. Strange?” Steve asked. 

Tony scoffed. “What about him? He’s a pompous blowhard.” 

Loki barked and looked at Steve. 

“You want us to get Dr. Strange?” Steve clarified. 

“Bark!” 

Tony groaned. “Seriously? That guy?”

“Bark!”

“Ugh.” Clint agreed.


	12. In Which Dr. Strange Offers Little Aid and Minimal Advice. Also, An Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's becoming clearer.

It was decided that Clint would fetch the doctor while Steve waited with Loki and Tony. Tony had let off a string of profanities before saying he was going to check on his lab and vanished from the wall. Steve took the kettle and set it to boil again, and then searched through the cupboards for the box of cookies he had hidden in the box labeled ‘Wheat Thins’ which Clint always avoided. Finding the cookies, Steve set about getting a platter and at least having something ready for when Clint arrived with the doctor. 

He was mostly ignoring the pressure building in his chest and bearing down on his shoulders. Pierce had lied to him, was lying to the king! It didn’t seem possible but--a loud ‘whoosh’ sounded behind him and he spun to find Clint and a man draped in a cloak walking through a swirling portal. Steve startled enough to drop the now empty box of cookies. 

“Aw cookies, no.” Clint intoned dejectedly.

Loki came over to sniff the empty box before sitting in front of the wizard. 

“Right, so this is the missing prince?” The wizard asked. White hair at his temples seemed to belie his young face, styled brunet hair and sharp goatee. His cape moved as if it had its own wind and overall his disposition implied apathy. 

“So he says.” replied Tony. 

The tea kettle began to whistle and Steve moved to take it off the stovetop and pour it out into the three mugs he had grabbed. 

“Hmm…” The dark haired man seemed to be moving his hands in a complicated way that trailed light. 

“‘Oh, how are you doing, Tony?’ ‘Fine doc, thanks for asking. So glad to have your help.’ ‘My pleasure, now let me take care of this.’” They all resolutely ignored Tony’s mutters and watched as Dr. Strange continued his waving, occasionally humming to himself. Clint had snatched up the platter of cookies and was inhaling them. Steve steeped the teas, since he could do nothing else. 

After another minute, the doctor stopped what he was doing and stepped back from the dog. “Ah, tea. Thank you.” He held out his hand and Steve watched as the mug floated in the wizard’s outstretched hand. 

“So?” Tony’s minimal patience had run out. 

“Well, this is mostly Loki, but also somewhat someone else. I can’t separate them unless I have the rest of both.” Dr. Strange informed them blandly. 

“You’re two people?!” Clint cried, cookie crumbs spewing from his mouth. Loki replied with a bark. 

“Oh great, that’s just great. You’re ‘mostly’ Loki but also someone else and, oh right, we have to locate those other pieces too!” Tony was indignantly put out. 

“Do you know who else you’re made of?” Steve asked.

“Bark.”

“Ok, well, do you know where your other parts are?” Steve prodded. 

“Bark!” 

“If I’m not still needed, I really have better things to be doing.” The doctor interrupted, sounding bored. 

“Just wait, maybe we can go get the pieces and come right back.” Steve said. “How many other pieces are there, Loki?”

“Bark.” 

“One? Ok, um…” Steve looked around. 

“Whatchu looking for?” Crumbled Clint. 

“I was thinking if I could write out the letters maybe Loki could spell things for us.”

“Oh, I can do that.” Tony said quickly, and suddenly the floor was lit up with letters in small boxes. “I assume you’re fine with QWERTY.” 

Loki merely barked in reply. 

“Ok, so where is your other piece, Loki?” Steve asked, eyeing the strange layout of letters. The dog quickly began to tap a series of letters and Tony put them up on the wall behind Loki. 

‘I dont know’

“Great.”

‘Well, it seems as if your little adventure might take a while and I really have to--”

“Wait!” Steve commanded. The doctor stopped mid sentence and stared in disbelief. “Ok Loki, what IS your other piece? Maybe it’s something unique that is easier to locate,” Steve explained to the other three, who stared at him and the dog with rapt attention. Loki swiftly began to tap again. Four letters. 

‘Hulk’

"What!?" Tony shouted, simultaneous with Steve's cry of "You've gotta be kidding me!" while Clint moaned 'oh man' in the background. 

“And what, pray tell, is a hulk?” Dr. Strange drawled. 

Steve put his face in his hands and thought. 

“It’s a big green monster that keeps chasing us around so uh, I may have led it over a cliff? Into the sea?” Tony sheepishly replied. 

“So, this will take you three some time. Well then, here’s my card, rip it in two when you need me.” The doctor placed a small square of paper on the countertop and then whooshed away through a swirling portal, his cape giving an extra swoosh for flair. 

Just then the elevator dinged. 

“Ah crap, Barnes must be back. Let’s go.” Tony muttered and they all shuffled back into the elevator, Loki following regally. 

When they stepped out, Bucky looked a bit frantic. “There you are! Don’t scare me like that!” He walked swiftly over and looked Clint, Loki, and finally Steve up and down. “I’m glad you’re ok. Why were you in New York?”

Clint “ugh”ed and flopped face down on the couch while Tony took his place above the mantle. Loki stalked over to sprawl on his dog bed. 

Bucky looked at Steve. Steve bit his lip. Seeing Bucky here, looking so worried, brought back the weight on Steve’s chest. The tornado of Pierce and his lies twirled around his mind until he felt quite dizzy and went to sit down on the couch next to Clint. 

“Guys?” Bucky prodded. 

“Do you want the bad news, or the bad news?” Tony muttered. 

“Um, surprise me?” The brunet said nervously. 

“Well, turns out Lucky is actually ‘mostly’ Loki and part some other guy.” Tony explained.

“What?”

“And the other part is the Hulk.”

“What!?”

“Oh and Steve here is a Hydra spy sent by Pierce to stop you from kidnapping women and eating their hearts.” Tony finished and side eyed Steve. 

“WHAT?!” Bucky stepped back, stunned, and stared at Steve, as if reading him like a book. “Steve? Pierce sent you? But--” 

The blond couldn’t do anything but keep his eyes locked with the brunet. Something shifted within Bucky then, and Steve watched as he seemed to push down some part of him, the kind warm part, leaving behind only an icy stare that looked through Steve as if he were nothing. 

“I see.” Bucky turned to Tony. “Pierce is here? Where is he?”

“He’s the royal vizier,” Steve answered, but Bucky refused to meet his eyes. Steve’s chest squeezed harder. 

“Apparently he’s been in the King’s ear for the last few years, no idea the size of his army or anything. They apparently tried to get rid of Loki.” Tony said as Clint sighed wearily from his position on the sofa. 

“Zola?” Bucky narrowed his eyes. 

“Probably.” Tony replied as Loki let out a low, miserable snarl. “Definitely.”

“Great, so he’s looking to make the super soldier serum then?” Bucky asked flatly. 

“That might be where the Hulk came from,” piped Clint, sitting up. Everyone looked at him curiously. “What? Last guy is super strong, super resilient and has a red face? New thing is giant and green, apparently very strong and very resilient. Probably some variation.”

Tony looked appraisingly at Clint. “You know, Barton. Sometimes I forget that you’re not the scarecrow of the party.” 

“The whole point was that they DIDN’T need--”

“Shut up Barnes, this is not a Wizard of Oz trivia game.”

“Oz?” Asked Steve, who was very much ignored. 

“Green.” Bucky murmured, looking deep in thought. Then he looked sharply at Loki. “Your magic is green. Did Zola use you as part of the experiment?” Loki barked loudly. “Damn.” 

“Ok, but it failed, again. Why come here? Erskine was in our world when he made Red Skull. What made Zola think his answer was here?” Bucky’s brow furrowed in thought as he spoke. 

“Professor Erskine?” Steve interrupted, blinking at them. This time he was stared at by 3 sets of human/dog eyes and one set of flat eyes. 

“You know him?” Asked Tony. 

“Yes, well I did. When I was little he would come to my village from time to time. He was very nice.” Steve smiled as he remembered the older man. 

“This man?” Tony asked, a picture forming next to him. 

Steve examined the new face carefully. It was certainly of a man younger than the professor had been, but Steve could see how he still bore a resemblance to the man who had saved his life. “Yes, well, he was older when I knew him.” 

This time Bucky turned his wintery glare at Steve. “Does Hydra have him?” 

Steve reared back, irritated. “I don’t know! I’m not Hydra. I didn’t even know they were still around!” He wanted to beg Bucky to listen to him; but Bucky’s eyes remained pale and cold and caused Steve to feel all his muscles frost over, rendering him motionless under the glare. 

“Sure,” Bucky flatly replied.” So is he alive?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so?” Steve ventured. 

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Bucky pushed. 

“I mean that the last time I saw him, I was 9 and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.” Steve felt himself growing increasingly exasperated at the cold tone. 

“And that was how many years ago?”

“Thirteen,” Steve snapped. 

Bucky looked at him impassively, then turned to Tony again. “So they came looking for Erskine, but couldn’t get him or the formula. Most likely. If they’re still experimenting with it.”

“Look, we don’t even know if Erskine actually perfected it, anyways.” Tony said. 

Bucky stared at him. “What do you mean?’

“I mean Erskine CLAIMED he came up with the true formula, and yeah Agent Carter looked like she could break any of us in two, but did he really make something like that? He said it could cure anything. Dad said he was always mumbling about good becoming better or bad getting worse or something.”

“Good becomes great, bad becomes worse?” Steve asked, words mumbled to him from what he thought had been a dream at the time. 

“Yes. That, exactly. How do you know that?” Tony narrowed his eyes at Steve. 

“When I was born I was weak and sickly, had a bad back, bad lungs, so on.” Steve explained. 

“Yeah, we would’ve assumed that from looking at you,” Tony pointed out. 

Steve huffed and glared. “So when I was 9, a plague crossed New Asgard, and I got sick. Very sick. My mother thought I was going to die so she called Professor Erskine. He gave me something, Ma said it glowed blue. And suddenly I was perfectly healthy, and taller. I grew up to be the strongest person in my village and in Havenhill, once I moved.”

They all stared. “Look, I’ve only looked like this the past few months! Before that I was working at the smithy! That’s why the King and Pierce wanted to send me here!” He glared at them. 

“So they weren’t quite sending an assassin, they were sending their super soldier.” Bucky replied, flatly. “I knew you looked familiar. You worked at the Valkyrie, didn’t you?”

Steve obstinately nodded. 

“God you were huge. Remember, Clint?”

“Oh my god, Steve, you’re Dorito man?” Clint stared open mouthed at him while Tony snickered. 

“I don’t know what that is.”

Clint held up his hands and drew an upside down triangle with his index fingers.

“I guess? It was hard to tailor my pants at the waist.”

“I bet.” Bucky muttered. 

“So uh, what happened?” Tony interrupted. “I mean, you went from Hercules to uh...you.” 

Steve narrowed his eyes at the screen. “When I was on my way here I was attacked. I never saw who it was but they did something and I...became this.” 

“Damn,” Tony swore. “Someone out there has the super soldier serum. The real stuff. What are they waiting for?”

“Could still be Hydra. Did you speak to Pierce about Erskine?” Bucky questioned. 

Steve flushed. “I did.” 

Bucky nodded. “So Pierce probably had some of his men attack you and steal it. But why? If you were already coming here to kill us….”

“I wasn’t going to kill you!” Steve sputtered.

“Right.” Bucky’s flat voice cut through him like a knife.

“Really! I was only coming because Pierce said you had something of Loki’s and I needed to get it back from you. I wasn’t going to kill you, or anyone else.” replied Steve desperately. 

Bucky raised an eyebrow pointedly, “Just a thief then?”

Steve snorted. “Well, is it really theft if you’re stealing from a thief?”

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, Steve.” Bucky chided. 

“What?” Steve asked dumbly. 

“Uh, Barnes. We’re trying to steal from a thief,” Clint pointed out. 

Bucky turned his glare on Clint. “No, we’re convincing Wanda to give it back, that’s different.”

“What if I had convinced you to give back what you stole?” Steve threw out. 

“That wasn’t even part of your plan and you know it!” Bucky snapped back. 

“It could’ve been!” Steve shouted back. 

“It wasn’t. You were so convinced I was some evil wizard, kidnapping and eating women’s hearts. I bet you were excited to come beat me up and take something from me.” Bucky stared Steve down. 

And damn him, because that had been exactly what Steve had been thinking. Before. Before he knew the truth. Steve hated feeling so naked, so transparent before that knowing look. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just don’t like bullies.”

“Am I a bully, Steve?” Bucky stared at him. 

Everything Steve had been feeling rushed at once to his throat, which meant nothing actually came out at all. 

“Right. Thought so. I’m going out.” The brunet spun on his heel and walked to the elevator, pressing the button and stepping in before anyone stopped him.

“Bucky--wait!” Steve scrambled up, but the doors closed between them and he heard the distant ding of the elevator moving.


	13. Which Contains a Hulk Trap and  a Heart is Returned to Its Owner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Find the Hulk, find Wanda, find...Hydra?

The silence in the room seemed to stretch on forever. Clint refused to look at him, and Tony was glaring at him from every surface. 

“I didn’t…I don’t…” Steve wasn’t sure what he was trying to say. He looked at the occupants of the room beseechingly. 

“Yeah, seems like.” Tony snapped. “From the start you--”

“Enough.” Clint stood, cutting Tony off softly. “We can’t do anything about Bucky right now. He’ll come back once he cools down,” Clint turned his eyes to Steve. “And we’ll figure out your stuff later. Right now we can do something. We can help Loki get his body back.”

All eyes turned to the dog, who looked back at them impassively. 

“How exactly do we do that? We don’t even know where the Hulk is!” Tony sputtered. 

“He’s still at the Trident.” Clint replied. 

“What?” Tony stared at Clint. 

“How do you know?” Steve asked. 

“People keep reporting shouting heard from the cliffs. I think he’s been stuck around there. We can go and capture him.” 

“Capture him, how exactly? With a big net? Ooh or a giant box propped up with a stick? Drop a dumbbell on him?” Tony drawled. 

“Talk to him.” Clint stated plainly, ignoring Tony’s sarcasm. 

“Talk...to...him.” Tony replied skeptically. 

“Yeah, he’s made of Loki and someone else, maybe instead of running we can just try talking to him.” Clint sighed and plucked the purple things from his ears and walked to his bedroom. “I’m getting changed, let’s head to Portstown.”

“Great, just great. This plan has no flaws! Absolutely airtight!” Tony cried. 

“We can try, at least.” Steve said. 

“You! It’s your time to be silent! You are NOT part of this plan. You are staying in your room until we get things fixed.” Tony declared angrily. 

“I want to help. I can help. I’ve been helping.”

“You’ve been snooping.”

“I was the one who helped Loki explain who he was and his other piece! I’ve helped a lot. And I want to keep helping. I want to fix all this.” Steve looked at Tony imploringly. “I’m going to help clean up this mess I’ve helped make, ok? And with Bucky gone, you need another person.”

Tony simply snarled, sounding like two swords scraping together. But Loki barked. 

“You! You don’t get a vote either! You got yourself turned into a dog and a Hulk!” Tony sputtered. “Neither of you have any say in this!”

“They do, and they’re part of our plan.” Clint had returned and had his arms crossed. “With Bucky gone, I’m in charge and if Steve wants to help, he can. He’s proven to be helpful already and Loki has the most invested in this, it’s his body we’re trying to return.”

Loki barked in agreement. Steve looked at Clint, who nodded at him. Steve nodded back. He would help, he would help fix all of this, and apologize to Bucky. 

“Ugh, sure! Off to Portstown we go!” Tony huffed and the view out the window blurred as they moved. The tower arrived at the cliffs at the edge of the town. “Now what?”

“Let in the outside noise, we need to listen for the Hulk.” Clint ordered. 

“Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” Suddenly they could hear waves crashing and the call of gulls. The wind snapped and flapped around them. 

“Let’s move along the cliff, hopefully we’ll hear him.” Steve offered and the tower began to slowly float along the edge. They remained silent, all straining to listen. Then, distantly they could all hear a familiar roar. 

“Follow that!” Steve cried as he ran to the window, straining to see the creature. 

“Aye aye, Captain.” Tony intoned as he moved them in the direction of the sound, the roaring growing louder. 

“Come on, come on!” Clint chanted as they grew closer until finally, they spied a large green hand clinging to the edge of a cliff. The tower drifted over and they all could see the Hulk desperately clinging, his other arm swinging as where he must have grabbed at crumbled into the ocean. 

“Go down, let him grab the tower and we can help pull him up!” Steve said and Tony moved the tower swiftly to follow his command, lowering until the top of the tower was within reach. 

They all felt the shudder as the Hulk latched on, and Tony pushed the tower up, pulling the Hulk with it until they were in land, the Hulk on his hands and knees, moaning. The elevator doors opened and Clint and Loki strode in. Steve went to follow, quickly grabbing the small card left by Dr. Strange and jumped in just as the doors closed. 

When the doors opened, they stepped out and stared at the giant in front of them. He had seemingly recovered, and now stood over them, eyes angry. 

“HULK!” He roared. 

“Hey buddy, sorry about before. We didn’t realize you wanted help.” Clint held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “We want to get you help too. Will you let us?”

Large brown eyes looked them over warily. “No.”

“No?” Clint asked, baffled. 

“No. Hulk no want,” the giant moved and began walking away. 

“Wait, wait!” Steve called after him. “What do you want? We can give it to you!”

The Hulk stopped and turned back. “Hulk...Hulk want--that!” He pointed at the tower. 

“You want the tower?” Steve asked. 

“Uh...Steve?” Clint started but Steve waved a hand. 

“Hulk want.” The giant replied. 

“Well, you can have it. We just want you to talk to a nice wizard, ok?” Steve offered. 

The Hulk frowned. “No. No want wizard.”

“If you talk to the wizard you can have the tower, otherwise we’ll leave right now and you’ll have to find us again.” Steve argued. 

“Hulk fast.”

“The tower is faster. Also, we can go over the ocean, you can’t do that can you?”

The Hulk roared at him and Steve tried not to tremble as it moved closer, large fists swinging wildly. 

“So, wizard first, then the tower ok?” He offered. 

“Fine.” The Hulk grumbled and dropped his arms to walk closer to them. 

“Right.” Steve tore the card in half and looked at Clint hopefully. An orange circle opened next to them, Dr. Strange stepping out of it. He looked over all of them disdainfully. 

“Finally found what you were looking for?” His eyes landed on the Hulk. “Ah, yes. I see. Well let’s get this fixed, I have things to do.” He waved his hands and different symbols appeared, surrounding Loki and the Hulk in bright lights. The Hulk began to panic, roaring and struggling. “Now, now. None of that. You need to calm down.” The wizard remarked blithely and brought his hands together. Light flared and Steve had to shield his eyes. 

When he brought his arm down, he was suddenly back in the tower living room, Clint at his side while the prince stood before them and a naked man was sprawled on the ground. Dr. Strange looked them over and nodded. 

“Right. Here you are, a Loki and the other man. I’ll be going now.” Steve wasn’t even surprised as the man swooshed away with a flick of his cape, instead focusing on the figures in front of him.

Steve watched as the naked man looked up and squinted his eyes at them, then felt around the floor. His salt and pepper hair flopped as his head turned, brown eyes barely stopping to focus on anyone. Steve took pity and laid the blanket from the sofa across the man’s bare shoulders. Loki was dusting himself off, appearing offended at even the mere presence of someone else’s magic on him. Steve looked to Clint, motioning toward the man. 

Suddenly, Tony spoke sharply. “Hold on! You’re Bruce! Bruce Banner! Holy shit! Bruce Banner!” The naked man, who was apparently named Bruce, blinked at Tony’s face. 

“Uh, yes? I think...yes, I am. You...are?”

“Damn! I was trying to recruit you to my research division when you disappeared, Mr. Six PhDs! How’d you wind up a hulk?” Tony barely paused, “Wait, how did you wind up working for HYDRA? Pierce? How’d this all happen?”

Steve could see that Bruce’s complexion had begun to change and Clint made aggressive abortive gestures toward Tony. “Ix-nay on the HYDRA-ay. Tony! He’s turning green,” 

Bruce was in fact, turning green and he let out a low growl, causing everyone in the room to pause and stare. He seemed to gain control of himself and returned to his normal coloring. 

“Uh, sorry. Still getting used to...being myself. Where...am I?”

“Stark tower, but in another dimension.” Clint replied. 

“And you are?” He looked at all of them. 

“Name’s Clint, I work for SHIELD, this is Steve, he’s from here, and this is Loki, he’s the Prince of here, which is New Asgard.” Clint motioned to each of them as he gave the introductions. 

“And I’m the one and only Tony Stark.” 

Bruce blinked at the face on the wall. “You...are? I thought you were a person?”

Tony’s outline flared briefly. “I AM a person. Just, not at the moment. Which, by the way, hey your Highness, wanna help with that?” He directed this at Loki, who glared back. 

“I suppose.” He replied disinterestedly. 

“You suppose? Suppose? We rescued you when you were a dog! We just helped you get back to being your gothy self. I think we deserve your help with that.” Tony sputtered. 

“Yes, that. Locating the girl? Stay here.” Loki disappeared in a flash of green. 

“Stay...stay here?! Hey! Your grand sorcerer highness! Where did he go?” Tony looked to Steve and Clint, who both shrugged in unison. 

Clint bent down and helped Bruce stand up. “Let’s get you some clothes ok? And food. Steve?” Steve was already moving to the stove, putting a pan on it and grabbing eggs from the refrigerator as Clint led Bruce down the hallway. 

By the time both returned, Steve had cooked eggs and poured out glasses of juice. Bruce was dressed in a shirt and big soft gray pants. He sat down and eagerly began eating. Clint sat down and ate at a slower pace. 

“So, Dr. Banner. Do you know how you got to New Asgard?” Clint asked as the man finished his meal. 

“To be honest, not really. I was leaving a symposium and I think I was captured? I don’t remember much except a strange symbol with a skull and tentacles. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. Everything’s kinda jumbled up here.” The man motioned to his head and shrugged. 

Clint nodded. “That’s alright. You were captured and experimented on. But you’re safe now. We’ve been working on this case for a while now.” 

Bruce nodded. “I think I should sleep some.” 

“You can use my room,” Steve offered. “It’s the first bedroom.”

“Thank you. Hopefully I can be more helpful after I get some sleep.”

“No worries, Doc. We’re just glad you’re ok.” Clint reassured him as the man walked slowly down the hall. 

“What the hell, Hydra?” Tony muttered as Clint cleared away the plates. 

Suddenly there was another flash of green and Loki appeared, this time accompanied by the young girl from the picture, Wanda. 

“One girl fetched, now I’m off to the palace and my brother.” Loki said as he conjured another flash of green and disappeared, leaving Wanda standing there awkwardly. 

Clint walked over and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Clint. It’s good to meet you.”

She shook his hand carefully, looking around the tower. “Wanda.” she replied in a soft voice. 

“Yeah, I know.” Tony said, his face moving to the wall across from where she stood. “We’re well acquainted.” 

Wanda gazed at him. “Stark?”

“Yeah, that’s me. I’m a tower at the moment but I’d really like my heart back. I’m going to die without it, eventually. And I have a lot I want to do.” 

She nodded. “I know, I’ve seen. You stopped weapon production and put a lot of effort into rebuilding what you helped destroy.”

“You’ve seen?” Tony asked. 

“Yes, when I was in our world. Before I had to escape from Hydra. But they followed me here,” she closed her eyes tightly for a moment before looking at Tony again. “I...was wrong. To take your heart like that. I was angry and wanted revenge.”

“No, I deserved it. I wasn’t paying any attention to what my company was doing, just enjoying the lavish life the money provided. But I’ve changed. I like to think for the better…” Tony glanced over at Clint, who nodded. “And right now my body is only alive because our friend gave his heart to me. He’s not here right now but he really ought to have it back. Only you can do that. We’ve been trying to destroy Hydra as best we can but if I have my heart back, I think we can put an end to it once and for all. Will you help us?”

Steve found himself moved by Tony’s sincerity. He exhibited a maturity Steve hadn’t realized he possessed. But then again, he’d had a few years without his heart and without his body. 

Clint spoke. “We want Hydra gone, and I think you feel the same. So let’s work together.”

She nodded. “I want to stop being afraid of them. Of who I am because of them.”

“We’ll help you with that too,” Steve offered. “You don’t have to be alone anymore.” 

Wanda clutched at her dress and pulled from it the necklace from the picture, a ruby hanging from it but it was dulled now. “I didn’t realize what I was doing when I took this, so I am happy to return it. It looks like the longer you have spent as this tower, the duller this has become.”

“Yeah that...worries me. Can you put my mind back in my body too?”

She nodded. “Yes, that should be simple.”

“Great, to the lab then.” 

Tony’s body was stored in a cool metal container, looking as if he were just sleeping. Staring down at the body, Steve could see the similarity between the face he had known and this man. Steve bent down and gently removed the pendant around Tony’s neck. Bucky’s heart. He clutched it tightly and stepped back as Wanda moved forward, draping her pendant around Tony’s neck. It melted into his skin, the ruby disappearing into his chest and she moved her hands around, red swirling around her and Tony until both were obscured. 

The entire tower shuddered and there was a loud gasp from the container. Wanda’s magic dissipated and she stepped back carefully. Tony’s body sat upright, eyes looking around wildly. 

“Welcome back, sir.” An accented voice spoke and Tony glanced up. 

“JARVIS?” He asked, his voice higher pitched than Steve was expecting as the man clambered to his feet and stepped out of the container. 

“Yes, sir. I was relegated to part of the tower but I am back now.” 

Tony patted down his body, stretching his arms and wriggling his fingers. “Boy, this is weird.”

“You ok, Tony?” Clint asked. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just getting used to being a human again. Feels small. Quieter too.” The man blinked and looked at Wanda. “Thanks.” She nodded back. Tony then stepped toward Steve. 

“And you,” Tony began. 

“Nice to finally meet you, Tony.” Steve said, holding out one hand while clutching Bucky’s heart tightly in his other hand. 

“Right.” Tony muttered and shook his hand quickly before dropping it. “So...Hydra. Where do we go now?”

“The palace,” Steve said. “Prince Loki will have already told him about Pierce, but we should go and offer help. It will be better if we worked together with him.”

“Ok, that’s the plan then. Let’s go...oh. That’s not my job anymore.” Tony glanced around. 

“I shall take us to the palace, sir. Please return to the first floor.” 

“Right, JARVIS has us covered. Let’s get suited up then.”

They returned to the main floor and Steve dressed himself again in his original suit, thinking for a moment before putting Bucky’s heart over his own neck, the gem settling over his heart. He would return this to its rightful owner and beg for forgiveness. For his foolishness. 

When the four of them met again in the living room, the accented voice spoke again. 

“Sir, it appears that the palace is under attack. I’m afraid Hydra has beaten us here.”

All looked out in horror as battle raged on outside, Large machines rolling over the castle’s outer wall and spewing black clad men into the courtyard. Hydra had begun it’s final move.


	14. Which Contains a Tearful Confession and a Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve discovers Pierce's true plan.

“Shit! Ok we need to get out there, now. JARVIS, get Mark 50 going, time to test it out.” Tony said as he rushed to the elevator, disappearing to a different floor. 

“Ok, Wanda, you and I are gonna go help out at the Palace, ok? Steve’s gonna stay here and be our eyes in the sky, right Steve?” Clint said as he motioned to Wanda for the elevator once more. 

“Yes, I’ll be more useful here.” Steve admitted. 

“Ok, JARVIS can you make floor 3 a command room for Steve?” Clint asked as the elevator doors opened once more, now containing one of the red and gold suits of armor, it’s chest containing a blue glowing orb.

“Already ahead of you, Hawkguy. Command center’s ready, let’s get out there and kick some Hydra ass.” The suit said in Tony’s voice as they climbed in and Clint pushed buttons 2 and 3. 

“Nice to see you again, Irondude.” Clint nodded to the suit. Then the two, along with Wanda, departed out onto the battlefield as Steve remained in the elevator and the doors closed. 

“I have configured the elevator to let you out into the command room. Everyone has comms that you can directly communicate and I will produce a 3D image of the battlefield on the table.” Jarvis explained to Steve as Steve exited the elevator into a room with floor to ceiling windows. On the large table in the middle the battle outside was recreated in painstaking detail, every little soldier in motion. Several figures were outlined in colors; purple, red, yellow, black, green. “I have highlighted allies on the map.”

“Thanks, Jarvis. Which one is the king?” Steve asked, eyes drawn by a flashing light that outlined a tiny figure of the king, cape flowing behind him as he floated in air. Beside him, a figure outlined in green was waving its arms and small enemy forces were blown away. Both were surrounded by several other figures fighting. 

“Ok, it looks like the king is surrounded by allies, Tony and Wanda, can you focus on those machines destroying the walls?”

“The tanks? On it.” Tony’s voice was loud and clear and Steve watched as the little Tony and Wanda made their way over. 

“Where do you want me?” Asked Clint. Steve scoured over the map, trying to find a high place where the archer could be of use. “The southern tower, you should have a good view from there and it seems clear of Hydra.”

“Works for me.” Little Clint made his way to the tower. Steve glanced over the map again.

“Jarvis, can you find Pierce?”

“He does not appear to be on the field.” 

“I wonder where he is. I’m sure if he was in the palace, Loki would have imprisoned him. He must be coordinating this attack. But how?”

“Castle seems clear, the king sent his servants to the storage below the kitchen.” Clint reported. 

“I can’t find Pierce anywhere. He’s not in these tanks.” Tony added. “Although why he’s attacking the palace, I have no idea. He knows he’s not more powerful than the king, so what’s his real play here?”

Steve agreed, it made no sense for Pierce to try and attack King Thor. In fact, trying to take over New Asgard seemed a futile idea, it was well defended and with the prince restored, it would be harder. Why would Pierce send Steve to find the prince if he intended to take over the kingdom. The man obviously knew what had happened to the prince, why bother sending anyone to look for him. Especially to this tower…

Steve gasped. Pierce didn’t want New Asgard, he wanted the tower. He wanted access between the worlds, and to Tony’s tower. It was the base from which they had been attacking and driving out Hydra from their world. If Hydra could take over this tower, they would gain access to all the intelligence, technology, and weapons that Tony possessed. 

“Pierce doesn’t care about the Palace! He wants to--” Suddenly Steve was grabbed from behind and thrown against the wall. He cried out in pain as he slumped to the ground, his head pounding and arm throbbing. 

“Very good, Steven. You’ve been most helpful.” Alexander Pierce strode to the console and put something into it. 

“Unauthorized access. You are not allowed to be in here--” Jarvis spoke before being cut off, the screens blinking and flashing. 

“JARVIS?” Tony’s voice sounded far away. “Steve? JARVIS? What’s going on?” 

“Hmm, this AI is more advanced than I thought, Alexander. It will take some time for me to gain full control.” This voice spoke in an accent that reminded Steve vaguely of Professor Erskine, and he opened his eyes to see a bald face with round spectacles on display, speaking to Pierce. 

“As to be expected, Arnim. Please put up the shields then, so we can keep them out until you gain full control.” Pierce replied. 

“Mm, yes.” The face replied and Steve watched as the windows instantly darkened as they were covered in metal. The lights in the room grew brighter. 

“You won’t...get away with this, Pierce.” Steve mumbled, pushing himself up from the ground. The other man laughed. 

“I’m afraid I already have, Steven. There is no way for anyone to get into this tower now, and you are no obstacle to me. Certainly not without the serum.”

Steve blinked at this proclamation. “It was you, you stole it from me that night.”

“I did. I knew you would prove too strong willed. I needed a better person. A soldier who will follow commands. Who isn’t dragged down by his heart. And I found the perfect candidate for that.” Pierce’s smile sent chills down Steve’s spine. The perfect candidate? Who--

Suddenly Steve felt a hand clamp around his throat and hoist him into the air. Steve brought his arms up to clasp desperately at the hand around his throat and he looked at the man holding him. His heart plummeted. 

“No...no no no. Bucky,” Steve sobbed as he gazed into empty grey eyes. 

“Mm, yes. Barnes was an excellent choice. Already a soldier, already so familiar with this tower and the members of SHIELD.” Pierce grinned. “And, without a heart, easily controlled. You truly have proved to be more than worth your weight in gold, Steven. It’s a shame you have to die, now.”

Bucky’s hand around his throat tightened and Steve choked out a cough. 

“Bucky! Bucky I’m sorry!” He gasped out. “I was wrong, and stupid. Please, you have to stop.”

Eyes like ice stared at him unblinking, hand still clenching at his throat. Unbidden, a memory floated to the front of Steve’s mind. It had been while he was still working at the Valkyrie, and a man with brown hair and blue grey eyes had come in and admired Steve’s work. Had introduced himself with a grin and asked Steve about what he was working on. Oh, Steve understood now why Bucky’s voice had been so familiar. They had met before. Steve remembered thinking him handsome at that time, and charming as he inquired about Havenhill and its inhabitants. He had offered to buy Steve a drink at the inn in exchange for answering his questions. But Steve had declined, telling the man to buy him a drink the next time he was in town. Why hadn’t he remembered this before?

“Bucky, Bucky you know me. I’m Steve. And you, you’re James Buchannan Barnes. You’re my friend.”

The hand around his throat loosened slightly and something flickered across Bucky’s face. 

Steve continued, “You took me to meet Becca, and to prospect park. You taught me all about the moon landing and bought me ice cream. Please, you’re not this.” 

Bucky frowned, his eyes moving back and forth and he dropped Steve. Steve took advantage of this to pull Bucky’s heart from around his neck and throw it over the other man’s head. The brunet hunched over, clutching at his head. Steve scrambled back as he heard Bucky moan. 

“Steve?” Bucky was looking at him, his eyes confused as he glanced around. 

“Damnit.” Pierce said , pulling out something and pointing it at Steve. He heard a loud bang and then pain spread across his right side. 

“Steve!” Bucky’s voice was now loud and terrified and he caught Steve and Steve’s body collapsed under him. 

Steve glanced up into eyes that were now clear and terrified. “Bucky? I’m sorry, I was wrong. You aren’t a bully. You’re a good person. I like you.” He said, smiling. The pain in his shoulder was spreading and he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open. 

“Steve? Steve, hold on. I like you too, ok? Just hold on.” Bucky begged but his voice sounded far away and black clung to the edges of Steve’s vision. Everything sounded muffled but he thought he heard the ding of the elevator before the darkness overwhelmed him. 


	15. In Which the Story Ends and the Author Uses a Cliché

Steve woke up slowly, awareness of his body returning gradually. 

“Steve? Hey, can you hear me?” A voice that Steve remembered warmly. He opened his eyes to see Bucky’s face hovering above him. 

“Bucky?” He focused on the face above him. 

“Yeah, it’s me, Steve. I’m glad you’re awake.” The brunet smiled at him with watery eyes. 

“Gave us all a bit of a scare. Not cool, Steve. Not cool.” Clint’s voice sounded on his left side, a cup with a straw appearing in front of him and Steve drank eagerly. 

“What happened?” Steve asked them, glancing around the room he was in. There was a clear bag with fluid connected to his arm and a machine with a line that blipped in time with his heartbeat. The bed he was in had rails on either side of his body. 

“Well, Pierce tried to take over my tower with the computerized brain of Arnim Zola and our Bucky Bear here. Except you were able to get through to the Buckster and I guess Bruce can still Hulk out? So he came and took care of Pierce while JARVIS let me back into the tower to get rid of Zola.” Tony chatted almost too quickly for Steve to follow as the man entered the room and walked around, touching every machine in sight. “But then you were shot and needed a blood transfusion and Buckaroo is a universal donor so you got a dosage of his super soldiered blood.”

This made Steve sit up and look down and himself. He was still small, his arms still skinny. Bucky grabbed his hand. 

“I’m sorry, Steve. But I guess it was diluted between our bloods and so you aren’t going to be your old size, again. But it has healed a lot of your other problems.” Bucky looked apologetic and hung his head. Steve squeezed his hand. 

“That’s ok. I’m just glad we won. Is Hydra gone?”

“Gone forever. All the heads cut off and the entire organization burned down to the ground. Now rest up, you’ve got a lot of recovering to do.”

Over the next several days Steve healed, faster than was expected and with barely a scar to show for it. Bucky remained at his side the entire time, keeping him entertained and fed. Sam showed up to hug Steve and to state that Steve now owed him several meals and a longer story. Bruce wandered in and they all had a discussion about the super soldier serum. It seemed like it had stabilized for Bucky and Steve, whereas Bruce was still able to turn into the Hulk when he was angry. He promised to keep investigating but said that as far as he could see, both of them would remain in good health and Steve wouldn’t need any of his medications or his glasses again. 

Steve was allowed to move back into his room in the tower. He finally met Pepper Potts, an incredibly kind woman who radiated a very strong energy of authority. He understood why she and Tony worked together. He also met Nat, who was actually a human with deep red hair named Natasha. Apparently Dr. Strange had thrown a spell onto the tower to keep out people who would attempt to break in. The spell turned them into spiders, which was what happened to Natasha. She worked with Clint and Bucky at SHIELD. Peter, a young, incredibly smart boy, who was supposed to start an internship with Tony had been caught in the trap as well.

Becca also visited, bringing him a stuffed bear and telling him to get better because they needed to have coffee and gossip about Bucky. Even Gabe, Morita, and Dugan visited, telling they expected another game of frisbee when he was better. It made Steve feel warm, that he was already accepted and cared for by the people he had spent such little time with while in New York City. When he pointed it out to Bucky, the other man had chuckled. 

“Well, they know I like you, punk.” Which made Steve smile. 

“Mm, and I like you too, jerk.” Steve reached out and punched Bucky’s shoulder lightly. The other man caught his hand and held it, lacing their fingers together. 

“Would you come with me? To New York? I’d make sure we could return to New Asgard whenever you wanted.” Bucky looked at him shyly. 

“I’d like that.” Steve replied, smiling. 

Some time later, King Thor requested Steve’s presence and Steve found himself once more within the Palace. 

“Steven! I am glad to see you well. I wanted to thank you for helping to find my brother and for your role in ridding my kingdom of Hydra.” King Thor smiled at him. 

“Of course, Your Majesty. It was my pleasure.” Steve replied. 

“I was going to offer you a place on my court, but I have come to learn that you may be intending to stay with Barnes? I know you spent time in the tower cleaning and cooking as part of your cover. You do understand that there is no need to continue to do that. You are free to do whatever you want.”

Steve smirked. “Oh, I don’t know, Your Majesty. He’s a mess. And I think if I left Bucky to his own devices he’d be lost.”

The king guffawed. “Very well, Steven. Next time you are in New Asgard, I shall hold a large feast!”

“There’s really no need…”

“I insist. And as king, my word is law.” Thor winked at Steve. 

Steve departed the castle with well wishes from Fandral, Hogun, and even Loki. When he returned to the tower with a smile on his face, Bucky was there to greet him. 

“Have a good time with the king?” The brunet asked, pulling Steve to sit next to him on the sofa. 

“I did. He’s going to hold a feast the next time I visit.” Steve leaned against Bucky until the brunet lifted his arm up and settled it over Steve’s shoulders. 

“Oh man, that’s a tough act to beat, Steve. Here I was going to offer hotdogs and a trip to the Met but I don’t know if that’s enough for a hero of New Asgard.” Bucky teased. Steve reached for the hand around his shoulder and laced their fingers as he looked up at Bucky. 

Steve smiled widely and relaxed into the warmth of the body next to him.“Hmm. I think it sounds perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE thanks again to both of my wonderful artists, NeutralChaos and Noodle_Soup_Bowl, as well as my amazing beta, witchwood_hull. Thank you all for reading!


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